The proposers will develop a strategic capability for solar physics modeling by combining SAIC's MAS code with Colorado's ENLIL code, which are among the most sophisticated models available today. Coupling MAS and ENLIL will deliver cutting-edge techniques for deriving time-dependent photospheric magnetic field data, as well as result in a GUI-driven product that will appeal broadly to the solar and heliospheric scientific community. The proposing team includes experts in solar magnetometry, surface flux evolution modeling, coronal and solar wind modeling, and computational physics. Their new model will encapsulate the capabilities of both MAS and ENLIL, as well as important improvements that will be developed and incorporated during the course of this work.
Observed photospheric magnetic fields are the primary boundary conditions to the MAS and ENLIL simulations, and their solar wind solutions are strongly dependent on these boundary conditions. Thus the proposed work includes detailed studies to improve the quality of this observational input. The proposers intend to drive their new model with time-dependent output from flux transport codes, allowing production of a real-time model of the solar wind which would be delivered to the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). Ultimately, this model might replace the current Wang-Sheeley-Arge model at the National Weather Service's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado. While global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models are, by necessity, complex, the proposers plan to minimize unnecessary complications for users by providing a uniform GUI interface with which to initiate model runs. The collaborators here will also provide a set of GUI tools for post-processing, analysis, and visualization of model output, since much of this work has already been done as part of previous and ongoing programs.
" supported research, development, and delivery of the numerical heliospheric code ENLIL with the aim to develop a strategic capability for the heliospheric space weather predictions. The ENLIL (old Sumerian god of wind and storms) code is a three-dimensional numerical model for global simulations of the solar wind with corotating and transient disturbances (developed at University of Colorado and George Mason University). It solves the magnetohydrodynamic equations on parallel computational systems, and predicts the density, temperature, flow velocity, and magnetic field strength at planets and spacecraft in the inner- and mid-heliosphere. This strategic capability has been achieved by combining the heliospheric ENLIL with two models of the solar corona: the WSA (empirical model of the corona developed at University of Colorado and Air Force Research Laboratory) and MAS (magnetohydrodynamic model of the corona developed at SAIC and Predictive Science Inc.). All models have been further sophisticated and coupled to deliver cutting-edge techniques for simulating global solar wind parameters and predicting stream interactions and evolution of coronal mass ejections. The resulting system uses remote observations of the magnetic field in the solar photosphere and white-light observation of the coronal mass ejections. Large scale parametric studies have been performed to verify the code robustness, tune the model free parameters, and validate the numerical predictions of the background solar wind and its ability to handle multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs). ENLIL was implemented at the NASA based multi-agency facility Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC; http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov) and their Run-on-Request service enables easy use of the modeling system to research and education community. The WSA-ENLIL-Cone has been selected as the first numerical model to be transitioned into forecast operation at the NOAA/Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC; www.swpc.nasa.gov). WSA-ENLIL is also one of the key models used at the NASA Space Weather Center (SWC: http://iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov) for supporting NASA missions.
