SA030-0008
The Effects of Small Scale Plasma Turbulence on Conductance Modeling in Global Magnetosphere–Ionosphere–Thermosphere Simulations during Geomagnetic Storms

Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Poster
Meers M Oppenheim1, Yakov S Dimant1, Jing Liu2, Dong Lin3, Wenbin Wang4, George V Khazanov5 and Viacheslav G Merkin6, (1)Boston University, Center for Space Physics, Boston, MA, United States, (2)National Center for Atmospheric Research, High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, United States, (4)NCAR, HAO, Boulder, CO, United States, (5)NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (6)The Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, United States
Abstract:
During periods of intense geomagnetic activity, the Earth’s high latitude geospace environment develops intense electric fields. These fields, generated in the magnetosphere and mapped down to the E-region ionosphere (at 90-130 km altitude), create strong currents called electrojets and these often drive plasma instabilities. These instabilities give rise to plasma turbulence that induces nonlinear particle transport and strong anomalous electron heating that elevates the temperature by up to one order of magnitude --- an effect observed by radars for forty years. These phenomena play an important role in magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere (MIT) coupling by increasing the ionospheric conductances and modifying geospace energy flows, affecting the structure of the magnetosphere. We have shown that anomalous conductivity caused by E-region turbulence can increase the ionospheric conductances by a factor of two or more. Further, we will discuss how precipitation interacts with the turbulence. These anomalous factors need to be included in global MIT models for accurate modeling of the near-Earth environment during geomagnetic storms or substorms.
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