This award facilitates scientific research using the large new computational resource named Blue Waters being developed by IBM and scheduled to be deployed at the University of Illinois in 2011. It provides travel funds to support technical coordination between the principal investigators, the Blue Waters project team and vendor technical team.
The award will aid researchers in the preparation and development of application codes which will subsequently be used to carry out the most accurate global simulations of the interaction of solar wind with the magnetosphere, far surpassing anything currently available. The accuracy and novelty of the 3D global model derives from its hybrid approach: fluid electrons coupled with kinetic ions. Results of the simulations will be available to the research community, stimulating additional research questions.
Understanding solar wind interaction with the Earth's magnetic field is central to an understanding of space weather. The term "space weather" has been coined to describe the conditions in space that affect the Earth and its technological systems. Space weather affects operations of (i) Global Positioning System satellites, (ii) geosynchronous communication and weather satellites, (iii) large-scale power distribution grids on the ground, and (iv) navigation and communications systems through the ionosphere.
Our research involves studies of space plasmas. Aside from its theoretical importance, this area of research has profound implications for life on Earth. Earth and other planets in the solar system are embedded in the Sun's extended atmosphere. There are frequent massive electromagnetic storms on the Sun that unleash tons of high energy particles that are spewed out into the solar system. These energetic particles can wreak havoc on the Earth's electrical systems (e.g., power grids) and have already caused billions of dollars in damage to satellites. The sience of forecasting of this so-called space weather is still in its infancy. Space weather was identified as one of nine natural hazards posing the greatest threat to the Nation’s security in Presidential Policy Directive. A solar storm of the magnitude of the 1859 Solar Superstorm would cause over $2 trillion in damage today. It can cause catastrophic collapse of power grid over many states that would take months to bring back on line. And may satellites would be lost, resulting in no GPS, no cell phones, and crippling communication worldwide. A severe storm would affect over 130 million people and take out 350 transformers (each takes a year to fix). This threat is all too real. Our society narrowly averted on 23-24 July, 2012 – by a margin of 7 days – a geomagnetic storm as large as the 1859 event that caused a catastrophic collapse of the entire power grid in Quebec & widespread blackout along east coast of U.S. The goal of our research is to develop more accurate forecasting models. We do this through a) development of petascale global simulation codes that include much more physics than the existing global codes, and b) developing a better understanding of key physical processes in space weather.
