Abstract

We have developed a self-consistent first-principles model of the coupled inner magnetosphere- thermosphere- ionosphere- plasmasphere system in order to understand the storm time electrodynamic coupling of the magnetosphere and ionosphere and its consequences for the ionosphere, plasmasphere, and... Show moreWe have developed a self-consistent first-principles model of the coupled inner magnetosphere- thermosphere- ionosphere- plasmasphere system in order to understand the storm time electrodynamic coupling of the magnetosphere and ionosphere and its consequences for the ionosphere, plasmasphere, and thermosphere. The model involves electrodynamic coupling of the Rice Convection Model (RCM) and the Coupled Thermosphere Ionosphere Plasmasphere electrodynamics (CTIPe) model: RCM provides the region 2 field aligned currents resulting from pressure gradients in the inner magnetosphere, which are important for modeling electric-field penetration and the shielding processes, while CTIPe provides time-dependent conductivity and neutral wind fields that are key to modeling the disturbance dynamo. A newly developed potential solver takes into account all these inputs to derive the global pattern of ionospheric electric fields. We found that the storm time vertical ExB drifts from the coupled model provided a better agreement with those from the observations for the March 2001 storm as compared to the predictions from the stand-alone RCM and CTIPe. Our simulation results suggest that the temporal variation of the magnetospheric magnetic field plays a significant role in the storm time variation of the drifts, especially for super storms such as March 2001 and November 2004 storm events. As responses of the ionosphere, plasmasphere and thermosphere to the storm time disturbance drifts, we found that daytime and evening upward enhancement of the ExB drift caused by the penetration electric field modifies the electron density and zonal neutral wind, leading to the zonal drift disturbances near the terminator through the F-region dynamo process. In this paper, we will address the role of the combined effect of the vertical and zonal drift disturbances as possible drivers to reproduce the massive restructuring of TEC. Show less