This project will make significant enhancements to Assimilative Mapping Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) model, and will use the new capabilities to investigate several scientific questions of fundamental importance to magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling and dynamic space weather events. Specifically, the model will be constructed using a spherical wavelet basis, affording better representation of fine structure, and will specify magnetic potential associated with inclined magnetic field lines. Conductances will be incorporated more accurately, and an assimilative framework will be added to allow for the time evolution of the state variables and the adaptive update of error covariances. Furthermore, space-based data from AMPERE, DMSP, POES, CHAMP, and additional new sources will be assimilated. The updated AMIE model will be used for a series of event studies to investigate localized and global energy deposition and plasma convection at high latitudes, important drivers for the thermosphere/ionosphere system which can have large effects on communication and navigation systems.
