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 |
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1 | Leake, James E.; Linton, Mark G.; Antiochos, Spiro K...
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1 | Leake, James E.; Linton, Mark G.; (2013), Effect of Ion...
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Presentations:
Performance Year | Reference | Actions |
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1 | Leake, James E.; Linton, M.; Antiochos, S.; (2010), Te...
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