Simulations of the ionosphere by the IPIM Model during extreme solar wind conditions
Open Session MIST Science
Simon
Thomas
Date Submitted
2021-04-16 00:00:00
IRAP, Toulouse
S. R. Thomas (IRAP), P.-L. Blelly (IRAP), A. Marchaudon (IRAP), J. Eisenbeis (IRAP), S. Bird (IRAP)
The IRAP Plasmasphere Ionosphere Model (IPIM) is an ionospheric model which describes the transport equations of ionospheric plasma species along magnetic closed field lines. As input, the previous iteration of IPIM used basic models to provide estimations of the solar wind conditions, convection, and precipitation within the ionosphere. In this presentation, we discuss the development of a new operational version of IPIM as part of the EUHFORIA project to monitor and forecast space weather conditions and hazards. The developments of the model include using in-situ solar wind observations from the OMNI data set, ionospheric radar data of plasma motions from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), and precipitation data from the Ovation model, as inputs to the model. A new conductivity module for low latitudes has also been developed for help in the simulation of geomagnetically induced currents. We compare the new IPIM version with the previous version and ionospheric observations to explore the differences observed by including these data within the model. We present the first results from this version which explore the ionosphere’s response to different solar wind conditions, including some extreme space weather events such as high-speed streams and coronal mass ejections.
All attendees are expected to show respect and courtesy to other attendees and staff, and to adhere to the NAM Code of Conduct.