SHINE: A Time-Dependent Solar Wind 3D-MHD Model Interface Using Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS) Observations

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

The main goal of this 3-year SHINE project is to apply the tomographic analysis to heliospheric data from available remote-sensing observations of interplanetary scintillation (IPS), archival white-light observations from SMEI (Solar Mass Ejection Imager), and extend this technique to the HI-2 (Heliospheric Imager-2) instruments onboard the STEREO spacecraft. This research effort will allow the project team to discover the differences between their own robust measurements of the kinematic propagation of these parameters near the Earth and the physical processes governing the propagation of features from near the solar surface using three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models. The project contributes to broader societal activities, such as advancing the participation of women in science and improving the scientific literacy of the general public. The project team will present the results of this research project at national scientific meetings and will publish them in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The research and EPO agenda of this SHINE project supports the Strategic Goals of the AGS Division in discovery, learning, diversity, and interdisciplinary research. The research agenda of this SHINE project consists of four main tasks, namely: (i) compare the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) tomographic modeling with MHD modeling to learn the physical differences between these two very different types of remote sensing analyses; (ii) pursue inter-comparison of 3D MHD modeling techniques that all use the same boundary conditions in order to learn the best physical parameters needed to propagate time-dependent structures; (iii) perform analysis of these interplanetary structures in order to determine and provide the lacking magnetic field inputs required for the tomographic kinematic model propagation; and, (iv) perform new analyses using iterative 3D MHD codes that refine remote sensing observations from solar heliospheric observations and IPS measurements. The outcome of this research project is expected to yield new improved boundary inputs, based on multiple data sets (that incorporate both remote-sensing observations and in-situ measurements), for various 3D MHD models, and especially for Space Weather models, and an analysis that displays the global properties of heliospheric structures. The project would provide new physical insight on "the solar cycle dependence of CMEs, including their propagation through and their interaction with the background solar wind, including the linking of interplanetary and near-Sun phenomena," as stated in the goals of the NSF's SHINE program.