Program Overview
This competitively-won NSF grant is aimed at developing a simulation model of solar wind interaction with the Earth’s magnetosphere. What makes this model unique, is that it takes into account the fact that solar wind is comprised of elementary particles which do not quite fulfill the criteria of being treated collectively as a continuum. Furthermore it is three dimensional in nature.

It employs a mathematical tool (finite element techniques) which allows it to simulate hundreds to almost one thousand Earth’s radii from Earth in each direction. As such it will be the first model of its kind in the world which takes into account the particle or corpuscular nature of the solar wind and realistically models its interaction with Earth’s magnetosphere in global scales.

This model can have potential applications to investigation of space weather phenomena including interaction of high energy solar wind particles resulting from magnetic storms with Earth’s magnetosphere, potential implications on satellites and communications, and applications to fundamental space physical research.