Magnetosphere-thermosphere coupling - An experiment in interactive modeling

The present use of the Rice convection model to investigate the electrodynamic coupling of the thermosphere to the inner magnetosphere encompasses the effects of EUV-driven and convection-driven neutral winds under quasi-equilibrium conditions. Convection-driven winds are included self-consistently and interactively; a steady-state wind parameterization is written analytically in terms of the electrostatic potential, which is in turn included in a closed-loop calculation for the electric potential itself. The simulations conducted show that, as the neutral system approaches a quasi-equilibrium state, the neutral winds play a much more significant role.