SA030-0006
Examining the auroral ionosphere in three dimensions using reconstructed 2D maps of auroral data to drive the 3D GEMINI model

Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Poster
Kristina A Lynch1, Robert Clayton2, Meghan Burleigh3, Matthew D Zettergren4, Mark Conde5, Tucker Evans6, Guy Alan Grubbs II7, Donald L Hampton5, David L Hysell8, Marc Lessard9, Robert Michell10, Ashton Seth Reimer11, Marilia Samara10, Roger H Varney12 and T Maximillian Roberts13, (1)Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States, (2)Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, NH, United States, (3)US Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, MI, United States, (4)Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, United States, (5)University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States, (6)Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States, (7)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, DC, United States, (8)Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States, (9)University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States, (10)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (11)University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, (12)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States, (13)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States
Abstract:
We use the GEMINI ionospheric model to create 3D and time simulations of auroral ionospheric parameters in the localized several hundred kilometer region surrounding an auroral arc. Previously available data from ground-based radars or in-situ measurements are insufficient to resolve arc-scale features over the entire region. Using higher resolution spatial and temporal maps replicated over the full 2D auroral region via (Clayton et al, JGR, 2019), the GEMINI model can now resolve three-dimensional features of fine-scale (km) flow structures in the vicinity of an auroral arc. Datamaps are reconstructed from the ISINGLASS sounding rocket campaign data, and combined with camera-based particle inversions into a set of driving inputs to run the 3D model. We compare model results driven with different combinations of the mapped ground based and in situ data, including different methodologies for extrapolating beyond the original 1D cut of fields data. Slices of the 3D current, flow, and conductance structure from the model outputs for various driving fields are used to interpret the 3D modeled volume of closure currents in an auroral arc region, and are compared to original in situ measurements for verification. We examine the sensitivity of the GEMINI-modelled current closure processes, to details of the 2D structure of the driving flow fields.
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