The north-south component B_z of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field(IMF) and solar wind dynamic pressure P_d are generally treated as the two main factors in the solar wind that determine the geometry of the magnetosphere.By using the 3D global MHD simulations,we investigate the effect of the Interplanetary Electric Field(IEF) on the size and shape of magnetopause quantitatively. Our numerical experiments confirm that the geometry of the magnetopause are mainly determined by P_d and B_z,as expected.However,the dawn-dusk IEFs have great impact on the magnetopause erosion because of the magnetic reconnection,thus affecting the size and shape of the magnetopause.Higher solar wind speed with the same B_z will lead to bigger dawn-dusk IEFs,which means the higher reconnection rate,and then results in more magnetic flux removal from the dayside. Consequently,the dayside magnetopause moves inward and flank magnetopause moves outward.
With the approaching of the 24th solar cycle peak year (2012-2014), the impacts of super solar storms on the geospace environment have drawn attentions. Based on the geomagnetic field observations during Carrington event in 1859, we estimate the interplanetary solar wind conditions at that time, and investigate the response of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system to this extreme solar wind conditions using global 3D MHD simulations. The main findings include: 1) The day-side magnetopause and bow shock are compressed to 4.3 and 6.0 Re (Earth radius), and their flanks are also strongly compressed. The magnetopause shifts inside the geosynchronous orbit, exposing geosynchronous satellites in the solar wind in the magnetosheath. 2) During the storm, the region-1 current increases by about 60 times, and the cross polar potential drop increases by about 80 times; the reconnection voltage is about 5 to 6 times larger than the average storms, which means a larger amount of the solar wind energy enters the magnetosphere, resulting in strong space weather phenomena.
This paper presents a brief summary of our recent work based on global MHD simulations of the Solar wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere (SMI) system with emphasis on the electrodynamic coupling in the system.The main conclusions obtained are summarized as follows.(1) As a main dynamo of the SMI system,the bow shock contributes to both region 1 Field-Aligned Current (FAC) and cross-tail current.Under strong interplanetary driving conditions and moderate Alfv'en Mach numbers,the bow shock's contribution may exceed more than fifty percent of the total of either region 1 or cross-tail currents.(2) In terms of more than 100 simulation runs with due southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF),we have found a combined parameter f=E sw P sw M A -1/2 (E sw,P sw,and M A are the solar wind electric field,ram pressure,and Alfv'en Mach number,respectively):both the ionospheric transpolar potential and the magnetopause reconnection voltage vary linearly with f for small f,but saturate for large f.(3) The reconnection voltage is approximately fitted by sin 3/2 (θ IMF /2),where θ IMF is the IMF clock angle.The ionospheric transpolar potential,the voltage along the polar cap boundary,and the electric fields along the merging line however defined they may be,respond differently to θ IMF,so it is not justified to take them as substitutes for the reconnection voltage.
