In this effort, the Principal Investigator (PI) will enhance and document the heliospheric code ENLIL that he has helped implement at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Specifically, the PI will document model features, test results, and file structures; update the model's metadata system to track the details of utilizing different coronal data under various conditions and parameters; provide "first-look" visualization and animation capability; incorporate spacecraft trajectory data to support multi-point and multi-perspective studies; and provide sample procedures for reading, analyzing, and visualizing downloaded numerical data. This activity will permit the PI to have a much more active collaboration with the CCMC staff during all phases of ENLIL model documentation, implementation, verification, interface development, and response to user feedback.
The ENLIL 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code simulates the co-rotating structured solar wind, driven by various analytical, empirical, and numerical coronal models, as well as simple interplanetary transients using parameterized inputs based upon coronagraph observations. ENLIL has been successfully applied by various users to a wide range of heliospheric problems, and it is also operated in a real-time mode for space weather prediction. Although the CCMC's run-on-request opportunity for ENLIL represents a major advance for the heliospheric community, the PI will further improve this modeling service. The growing user base and upcoming SHINE (Solar, Heliospheric, and INterplanetary Environment) and CAWSES (Climate And Weather of the Sun-Earth System) campaign events utilizing STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) and other observations underscores the importance of having a heliospheric modeling system with such enhanced features, including better documentation and embedded metadata, unambiguous interpretation of results, and auxiliary analysis and visualization tools. Since the CCMC provides a natural entry point for students, this project will also offer improvements in community education activities.
