[GEM] THE GEM MESSENGER, Volume 25, Number 33

[Newsletter Editor]

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     THE GEM MESSENGER
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Volume 25, Number 33
September 2, 2015

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Table of Contents

1. 2015 Summer Workshop Report: The Ionospheric Source of Magnetospheric Plasma - Measurement, Modeling and Merging Into the GEM GGCM Focus Group

2. JOB OPENING: Scientist I position in upper atmosphere physics, High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research
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1. 2015 Summer Workshop Report: The Ionospheric Source of Magnetospheric Plasma - Measurement, Modeling and Merging Into the GEM GGCM Focus Group
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From: Rick Chappell (rick.chappell at vanderbilt.edu), Bob Schunk and Dan Welling

Our focus group had an active set of presentations and discussions at the GEM Snowmass Workshop in June.  The sessions covered progress in merged modeling of the ionospheric outflow and magnetospheric dynamics and comparison of these merged model results with the observations for specific magnetic storm periods that had been selected by the focus group participants.  The two storm periods are Sept 27- Oct 4, 2002 and Oct 22- 29, 2002.  Measurements for the two selected GEM storm periods as well as for a third storm period in April 6-7, 2000 are available from instruments on Cluster, Polar, LANL and FAST spacecraft.  In addition, there was a session specifically to do an inter-comparison between different model results and a final general session that included an open discussion regarding the closing activities of the focus group at the end of this calendar year.  The papers and presenters for these four sessions are shown in Appendix A.

In a general sense, there has been continued progress in both the ion outflow models and their merger with the magnetospheric MHD models, both BATS-R-US and LFM.  The outflow models have been completed for the two selected storm periods and there have been merged model runs for these two storms as well.  The ion outflow has been modeled using the Generalized Polar Wind model at Utah State University, the Polar Wind Outflow Model at the University of Michigan and Goddard Space Flight Center and the Ionosphere Polar Wind Model at NCAR. The model inter-comparisons show very interesting results, which match the observations in a variety of ways.  In some instances one merged outflow model can give a better match to the Dst and the cross-polar cap potential and another can match the O+ outflow more effectively.  Merging the ion outflow to the MHD model leads to the release of a plasmoid in the tail of the magnetosphere whereas the lack of explicit input from the ionosphere results in no plasmoid release.

Additional discussion of modeling results and observations from these two events led to a short list of key features that must be investigated in the future.  Cluster observations of outflow in the northern and southern hemispheres showed strong asymmetry in terms of density and composition.  Further studies will be required to determine if this feature manifests in the model results.  Many noted that the lack of embedded ring current model in the MHD models might be an important limitation, especially when performing data-model comparisons within geosynchronous distances.  Finally, experimental results from the LFM model when many fluids are used illustrates the necessity for 3 or more dedicated fluids in order to properly capture the complicated outflow dynamics throughout the magnetosphere.  These additional modeling steps will be taken under consideration as the teams prepare for Fall AGU.

Modeling results for GPW, BATS and merged GPW/BATS are available to the community at the following website: http://aoss-research.engin.umich.edu/projects/outflowmmm/.  Contact
Dan Welling for information on obtaining or sharing your modeling results on the website (dwelling at umich.edu).

Based on the focus group discussion in our fourth session we have planned a continuation of our GEM focus group activities in a special session at the upcoming Fall AGU meeting.  The session title is Ionospheric Outflow from Earth and Other Terrestrial Planets and It’s      Importance as a Source of Plasma for Magnetospheres. The Session ID is SM003 and the conveners are Vince Eccles, Rick Chappell, Lukas Maes and Bill Peterson.  Our goal is to continue the momentum of the focus group with presentations addressing both the merged modeling results and the observations that are now in progress. We have invited four speakers for this session and 8 papers have been contributed.  A list of the invited and contributed papers is shown in Appendix B.

We are also considering organizing a special section for the Journal of Geophysical Research on the role of the ionospheric source in driving magnetospheric plasma and dynamics.  This special JGR section would be built around the papers that will be presented at fall AGU as well as the papers that have been written in connection with the work of the focus group over the past years.  This special section should be an excellent compendium of the work of our GEM focus group.  

In addition to the special JGR section, the focus group was involved in creating the Yosemite Chapman Conference in 2014 on our research focus.  An AGU monograph is being written based on the papers given at the Yosemite conference and an HD video of the Yosemite conference is available online at Utah State University.  In order to view the Yosemite video go to http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/yosemite_chapman/2014/. A second book on the focus group topic based on an ISSI conference held in Bern Switzerland in October, 2013 is in press.  At the conclusion of our focus group activities we expect to have a comprehensive collection of material that captures the new research results that have been stimulated by our GEM focus group over the past 5 years. 
 
Thanks to all of the focus group members who have contributed to the merged modeling activities and to the analysis of the spacecraft measurements that are being used for comparisons with the modeling results.  Please contact Rick Chappell at rick.chappell at vanderbilt.edu if you have any questions.  We look forward to seeing you at the Fall AGU meeting!

Rick Chappell, Bob Schunk, Dan Welling


Appendix A
Focus Group Sessions at the 2015 GEM Meeting

The Ionospheric Source of Magnetospheric Plasma—
Measurement, Modeling and Merging into the GEM GGCM

Agenda for the Focus Group Sessions at GEM 2015

Merged Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Models
	Monday, June 15:  10:30am-12:15
—Generalized Polar Wind Models of GEM Storms, 1—Bob Schunk  20 min
—Generalized Polar Wind Models of GEM Storms, 2—Vince Eccles  20 min
—Merged Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Models—Dan Welling  20 min
—Overview of Recent LFM Modeling and Thoughts for the Future—Bill Lotko  20 min
—Discussion

 Merged Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Models Compared to Observations
	Monday, June 15:  1:30-3:00pm
—Merged BATS Iono-Magnetosphere Models for GEM Storms—Dan Welling  15 min
—Merged LFM Iono-Magnetosphere Model for GEM Storm—Katie Garcia-Sage 20 min
—Cluster Measurement/Model Comparisons During GEM Storms—Lynn Kistler  20 min
—LANL Measurement/Model Comparisons During GEM Storms—Joe Borovsky  20 min
—The Estimation of Cold Plasma Outflow During Storms—Stein Haaland  20 min

Inter-Model Comparison for GEM Storm Periods and New Measurements
	Monday, June 15:  3:30-5:00pm
—Continued Discussion of Merged Models and Measurements Comparison
—Ion Outflow Topics—Naritoshi Kitamura  20 min
—Hysteresis Effects in Coupled MFLFM-IPWM Models—Roger Varney  15 minutes
—Initial Plasma Measurements from MMS—Barbara Giles  20 min
—Ion Fluxes Into and Out of a Model Plasmasphere During a Storm
	—Jonathan Krall  20 min

General Discussion of Modeling and Observations and Focus Group Planning
	Tuesday, June 16:  10:30am-12:15
—Global Multiscale Magnetospheric Simulations: HYPERS—Yuri Omelchenko 15 min
—The Powering of Highly Efficient Poynting Flux-Driven Wind Using Polar Spacecraft 
	Measurements—John Wygant  15 min
—Ion Upflow Dependence on Ionospheric Density and Solar Photoionization—
	Bruce Fritz  15 min
—From SED Plume to Dayside Trough:  Role of Ion Upflow—Shasha Zou  15 min
—A New Look at DE-1 Escaping Ion Observations at Non-Storm Times—Bill Peterson
	10 min  (Accompanying poster by Kristina Lu)
—Discussion involving entire Focus Group

In addition to the focus group sessions, there was a Plenary Tutorial Talk at GEM by Stein Haaland on “Cold Ion Outflow from the Polar Cap.”
	

Appendix B

Presentations at the Fall AGU Session on
Ionospheric Outflow from Earth and Other Terrestrial Planets and Its Importance as a Source of Plasma for Magnetospheres

Invited Papers:

Estimation of cold plasma outflow during geomagnetic storms
Stein Haaland, Max-Planck Institute, Goettingen, Germany; Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Bergen, Norway

High-resolution Multi-instrument Observations of Ion Outflows in the Topside Ionosphere on the Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e-POP)
Andrew W Yau, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

Stormtime Ionospheric Outflow Effects in Global Multi-Fluid MHD
Katherine Garcia-Sage, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States; Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States

Data-Model and Inter-Model Comparisons of the GEM Outflow Events Using the Space Weather Modeling Framework
Daniel T Welling, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

Contributed Papers:

Comparing the O+ and H+ Escape Fluxes from Fluid and Particle-in-Cell Solutions of the Polar Wind—  J Vincent Eccles, Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Logan, UT, United States

Comparison Between the Integrated Ion Outflow Fluxes from the North and South Hemispheres Under Sustained Geomagnetically Active Conditions
Abdallah R Barakat, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States

Low-Energy Ions as a Major Source of Magnetospheric Plasma: Statistics and Consequences
Mats Andre, IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

Influence of Causally Regulated Ion Outflow on Coupled Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Dynamics
Roger H Varney, SRI International Menlo Park, Menlo Park, CA, United States

Is Substorm Onset Seeded by Cross-Tail Current Enhancement Resulting from Parallel Energization of Oxygen Ion Polar Cap Outflow?
George J Sofko, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

Modeling the O+ Transit from Ionosphere to Plasmasheet
Thiago V Brito, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States

The Cusp Ion Outflow up to 6 Re: Statistical Study on Polar and FAST Conjunction Events
Sheng Tian, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, United States

On contribution of energetic and heavy ions to the plasma pressure: Storm Sept 27 - Oct 4, 2002
Elena A Kronberg, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen, Germany


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2. JOB OPENING: Scientist I position in upper atmosphere physics, High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research
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From: Michael Wiltberger (wiltbemj at ucar.edu)

The High Altitude Observatory (HAO) of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is seeking candidates for a ladder-track Scientist I position to conduct research on modeling and analyzing physical processes in the Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere, and their connections with the broader solar-terrestrial environment, in support of the HAO mission "to understand the behavior of the Sun and its impact on the Earth, to support, enhance, and extend the capabilities of the university community and the broader scientific community, nationally and internationally, and to foster the transfer of knowledge and technology." HAO is a center of development for community models of the coupled atmosphere-thermosphere-ionosphere system, including the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model-eXtension (WACCM-X). The scientist selected for this position will play a leading role in fundamental research into ionosphere-thermosphere physics, in development of community models, and in the application of these models to study the Sun-Earth system. Information about HAO and NCAR can be found at http://www2.hao.ucar.edu.

Duties of this position include:

- Conduct independent and collaborative research, model development, and numerical experimentation to support HAO's research objectives with a focus on addressing outstanding questions in ionosphere-thermosphere physics;
- Contribute to NCAR and HAO programs through leadership and participation in high-priority projects such as the development of the coupled atmosphere-thermosphere-ionosphere models as well as data assimilation models; 
- Interact with scientists throughout NCAR and in the university community on research topics related to space weather and Sun-climate interactions;
- Provide service to the community through external committees, editorships, reviews, education/outreach, professional society activities, communicating science to the public, professional development of staff/visitors, student mentoring, and/or diversity efforts;
- Communicate research results by publishing papers in scientific journals and by giving presentations at national and international meetings.

The successful candidate has the opportunity to develop an independent research program within the broad guidelines of the HAO strategic plan and to shape future plans. His/her research is expected to take advantage of and contribute to NCAR as a national center. The position comes with a share of HAO’s administrative and computing support. Additional support may be garnered through competitive grants. 

To apply for this position, visit UCAR Human Resources website at 
https://ucar.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&id=23&jobid=217768&company_id=15947&version=1&source=ONLINE&JobOwner=992746&level=levelid1&levelid1=45212&startflag=2

A Ph.D. in space physics or related science is required. Applicants should supply a cover letter, a statement of research interests and how they might contribute to the HAO mission and strategic plan, a current CV, and the names of four potential references. Initial consideration will be given to applications received prior to October 21, 2015. Thereafter, applications will be reviewed on an as-needed basis.

NCAR is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, domestic partner status, disability, or veteran status.


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