Modeling Dynamical Flux Emergence as the Driver of Coronal Mass Ejections

ROSES ID: NNH09ZDA001N      Selection Year: 2010      

Program Element: Focused Science Topic

Principal Investigator: Mark Linton

Affiliation(s): Naval Research Laboratory

Project Member(s):
Leake, James Edward Co-I Naval Research Laboratory

Summary:

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are eruptions of solar plasma and magnetic

field from the solar corona into interplanetary space. The collision of

Earth-directed CMEs with the Earth's space environment is a primary source of

magnetospheric substorm activity, which creates hazards for radio communications

and Earth-orbiting spacecraft. There are a number of competing theoretical models

for erupting CME magnetic structures, many of which rely on the emergence of

magnetic fields from the solar convection zone into the corona to drive or

destabilize the CME. However, rather than dynamically emerging this field,

most rely on the specification of kinematic photospheric boundary conditions

to mimic flux emergence. The goal of this proposal is to perform a fundamental

test of whether CME initiation can be driven by self-consistent, dynamical

flux emergence. We will primarily focus on the breakout CME model and the

flux rope loss of equilibrium and torus instability models. We will study

how flux emergence from the high beta convection zone into the low beta

corona affects such CME-prone coronal fields. We will then develop a model

for driving coronal simulations with observational data input at a high

beta photospheric boundary. In collaboration with our Focused Science

Topic teammates, we will simulate the evolution of CME producing regions,

testing whether such data driven simulations can reproduce observed eruptions.



Our simulations will be run with the NRL-developed 3D magnetohydrodynamic

code ARMS. This code has been used to study CME initiation via kinematic

boundary driving, and to study dynamical flux emergence into a field free

corona. For our proposed work we will combine these two simulation capabilities

together to study the initiation of CME eruptions via flux emergence

into a pre-existing coronal field. The simulation results will be compared

against photospheric vector magnetic field observations of flux emergence,

EUV and X-ray observations of coronal magnetic field structures, and

coronagraph observations of CME eruptions. This program is aimed at

improving our understanding of how CMEs are driven and destabilized, thus

enhancing NASA's ability to develop predictive tools for CMEs and their

space weather consequences.

Publications:

Performance Year	Reference	Investigation Type	Actions
1	Leake, James E.; Linton, Mark G.; Antiochos, Spiro K...	not set
1	Leake, James E.; Linton, Mark G.; (2013), Effect of Ion...	not set

Presentations:

Performance Year	Reference	Actions
1	Leake, James E.; Linton, M.; Antiochos, S.; (2010), Te...

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