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Review of Recent Results in Global MHD Modeling: ISTP Project Scientist for Theory and Ground-Based ObservationsGlobal MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) simulations have shown a remarkable ability to describe the global dynamics of geospace. The limitations of the physical approximations underlying MHD would seem to limit the effectiveness of these codes, since kinetic and hybrid effects should manifest themselves by cross-scale coupling from microscales to mesoscales to global scales. However three effects appear to allow the codes to operate much more successfully than one would at first believe. They are:(l) the globally self-consistent nature of the codes with very well defined exterior boundary conditions (the solar wind) which allows the proper intercommunication between magnetospheric regions on MHD scales, (2) the control by global dynamics of the boundary layer locations where micro and meso scale processes operate, and (3) the critical role of numerical diffusion and with a sufficiently high resolution grid, the use of an empirical resistivity term, which if set at a level where the major magnetosphere boundaries properly calibrate against their observed locations, appear to well represent the effects of kinetic and hybrid processes on the global dynamics. The effectiveness of the global MHD codes, which have been developed under the ISTP mission, in describing Wind, Polar and Geotail observations, as well as ground-based observations are described. Particular emphasis is placed upon the Polar imaging data which when combined with ground-based data and global MHD-based synthetic aurora and convection patterns provide a powerful tool in understanding the final link in the solar-terrestrial chain: coupling into the atmosphere and ionosphere.
Document ID
19990080933
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Curtis, Steven
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1999
Subject Category
Geophysics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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