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Challenges to modeling the Sun–Earth system: A workshop summary
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 69 (2007) 1–2 www.elsevier.com/locate/jastp
Preface
Challenges to modeling the Sun–Earth system: A workshop summary This special issue of the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics is a compilation of 22 papers presented at the 2004 Huntsville Modeling Workshop: Challenges to Modeling the Sun–Earth System held in Huntsville, AL on October 18–22, 2004. The title of the workshop appropriately captures the theme of what was presented and discussed by the 120 participants. Currently, end-toend modeling of the Sun–Earth system is a major goal of the National Space Weather and NASA living with a star (LWS) programs. While profound advances have been made in modeling isolated regions of the Sun–Earth system, minimal progress has been achieved in modeling the end-to-end system. The transfer of mass, energy and momentum through the coupled Sun–Earth system spans a wide range of scales in time and space. The uncertainty in the underlying physics responsible for coupling contiguous regions of the Sun–Earth system is recognized as a significant barrier to progress. The importance of this workshop and of this collection of papers is that fundamental and practical problems that can be applied to modeling of the coupled solar–terrestrial system are made available to the research community. This special issue also provides a ‘‘snap shot’’ of the current status of the modeling of the coupled Sun–Earth. The challenges associated with making progress in modeling phenomena across boundaries between regions and the associated data analyses that guide and constrain model results are included. This special issue reflects the diversity of the participants and the progress that resulted. The papers are organized by phenomena or theme as opposed to the traditional organization by region. Of the 22 papers included in this special edition, 1364-6826/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2006.10.001
four address the status and future direction of Sun–Earth modeling. Notably, the paper by Dan Baker provides a good overview of the current status of the end-to-end modeling efforts underway, and draws attention to major questions that must be addressed. The paper by George Parks draws attention to the need for kinetic based modeling in regimes where MHD theory does not properly account for micro-physics, but yet are still often invoked. Khazanov et al., and DeForrest and Kankelborg each submitted papers; the former illustrating the use of kinetic modeling in the magnetosphere and the latter using MHD for lowbeta space plasmas. During the workshop general discussions were held regarding some of the barriers to modeling this complex coupled system. George Siscoe made the important observation that our field needs to train students to be ‘generalists’ in order to investigate the system as a whole. This holistic approach has more recently been referred to as the field of Heliophysics, the study of the solar-terrestrial-planetary coupled environment. Several participants pointed out that improved characterization of the input sources for models is very much needed. Often the input to one model is the output of another model; therefore the coordination of model output and input should be established. For example, understanding the nature and assumptions that are made to generate the modeled source region on the Sun’s surface is important if this will be used as the input to a solar wind model. In addition, an understanding and recognition of the limitations of various modeling techniques and the conditions or regions under which they are applicable are crucial in efforts to model the entire system. Much needless discussion has occurred in years past because of a lack of
ARTICLE IN PRESS 2
Preface / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 69 (2007) 1–2
appreciation or recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of any given modeling technique. We would like to express our appreciation to the following people who served on the workshop science steering committee. Their leadership and advice in planning the workshop culminating with this special issue was significant and critical to its realization. Barbara L. Giles, NASA Headquarters John T. Gosling, Los Alamos National Laboratory Roderick A. Heelis, University of Texas at Dallas W. Jeffrey Hughes, Boston University Janet U. Kozyra, University of Michigan Therese A. Kucera, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Robert P. Lin, University of California, Berkeley Robert M. Robinson, National Science Foundation Raymond Roble, National Center for Atmospheric Research Chris Russell, University of California, LA Steven T. Suess, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Lawrence J. Zanetti, Johns Hopkins University We also wish to thank many in the community who took time to make this issue worthy of publication by providing advice, refereeing papers, and serving as session chairs for the workshop. Specifically, the following people were significant in this regard: J. Albert, D. Baker, L. Bularga, V. Coffey, B. Dennis, Y. Ebinhara, D. Falconer, G. Fisher, M.C. Fok, N. Fox, R. Frederick, M. Fillingim, C.D. Fry, A. Gary, P. Gallagher, G. Germany, B. Giles, C. Goodrich, J. Gosling, R. Heelis, W.J. Hughes, S. Kahler, G. Khazanov, M. Liemohn, C. Lemon, W.B. Manchester, T. Man-
nucci, T. Moore, R. Moore, W. Murtagh, P. Newell, G. Reeves, L. Scheirless, M. Schultz, A. Szabo, S.T. Suess, A.H. Wang, R. Weigel, D. Weimer, G. Wilson. Finally, none of this would have happened without the help of Mark Adrian, now at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who helped keep things on track, the conference coordinator Peggy Moss and Janet Christensen who made the workshop happen and to Pat Corder who made the assembly of this special issue possible. We trust that the contents of this special issue will be useful to the advancement of knowledge and understanding by providing information, guidance, and ideas that help resolve the difficult problems associated with this complex coupled system and by serving as a ‘snapshot’ of the current state of modeling for this community.
Guest Editor James F. Spann NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Science and Exploration Research Office (VP60), National Space Science and Technology Center, 320 Sparkman Dr, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA E-mail address: [email protected] (J.F. Spann)
Guest Editor S.-T. Wu Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, Olin B. King Technology Hall, Room S101, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA E-mail address: [email protected] (S.-T. Wu)
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 69 (2007) 1–2 www.elsevier.com/locate/jastp
Preface
Challenges to modeling the Sun–Earth system: A workshop summary This special issue of the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics is a compilation of 22 papers presented at the 2004 Huntsville Modeling Workshop: Challenges to Modeling the Sun–Earth System held in Huntsville, AL on October 18–22, 2004. The title of the workshop appropriately captures the theme of what was presented and discussed by the 120 participants. Currently, end-toend modeling of the Sun–Earth system is a major goal of the National Space Weather and NASA living with a star (LWS) programs. While profound advances have been made in modeling isolated regions of the Sun–Earth system, minimal progress has been achieved in modeling the end-to-end system. The transfer of mass, energy and momentum through the coupled Sun–Earth system spans a wide range of scales in time and space. The uncertainty in the underlying physics responsible for coupling contiguous regions of the Sun–Earth system is recognized as a significant barrier to progress. The importance of this workshop and of this collection of papers is that fundamental and practical problems that can be applied to modeling of the coupled solar–terrestrial system are made available to the research community. This special issue also provides a ‘‘snap shot’’ of the current status of the modeling of the coupled Sun–Earth. The challenges associated with making progress in modeling phenomena across boundaries between regions and the associated data analyses that guide and constrain model results are included. This special issue reflects the diversity of the participants and the progress that resulted. The papers are organized by phenomena or theme as opposed to the traditional organization by region. Of the 22 papers included in this special edition, 1364-6826/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2006.10.001
four address the status and future direction of Sun–Earth modeling. Notably, the paper by Dan Baker provides a good overview of the current status of the end-to-end modeling efforts underway, and draws attention to major questions that must be addressed. The paper by George Parks draws attention to the need for kinetic based modeling in regimes where MHD theory does not properly account for micro-physics, but yet are still often invoked. Khazanov et al., and DeForrest and Kankelborg each submitted papers; the former illustrating the use of kinetic modeling in the magnetosphere and the latter using MHD for lowbeta space plasmas. During the workshop general discussions were held regarding some of the barriers to modeling this complex coupled system. George Siscoe made the important observation that our field needs to train students to be ‘generalists’ in order to investigate the system as a whole. This holistic approach has more recently been referred to as the field of Heliophysics, the study of the solar-terrestrial-planetary coupled environment. Several participants pointed out that improved characterization of the input sources for models is very much needed. Often the input to one model is the output of another model; therefore the coordination of model output and input should be established. For example, understanding the nature and assumptions that are made to generate the modeled source region on the Sun’s surface is important if this will be used as the input to a solar wind model. In addition, an understanding and recognition of the limitations of various modeling techniques and the conditions or regions under which they are applicable are crucial in efforts to model the entire system. Much needless discussion has occurred in years past because of a lack of
ARTICLE IN PRESS 2
Preface / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 69 (2007) 1–2
appreciation or recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of any given modeling technique. We would like to express our appreciation to the following people who served on the workshop science steering committee. Their leadership and advice in planning the workshop culminating with this special issue was significant and critical to its realization. Barbara L. Giles, NASA Headquarters John T. Gosling, Los Alamos National Laboratory Roderick A. Heelis, University of Texas at Dallas W. Jeffrey Hughes, Boston University Janet U. Kozyra, University of Michigan Therese A. Kucera, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Robert P. Lin, University of California, Berkeley Robert M. Robinson, National Science Foundation Raymond Roble, National Center for Atmospheric Research Chris Russell, University of California, LA Steven T. Suess, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Lawrence J. Zanetti, Johns Hopkins University We also wish to thank many in the community who took time to make this issue worthy of publication by providing advice, refereeing papers, and serving as session chairs for the workshop. Specifically, the following people were significant in this regard: J. Albert, D. Baker, L. Bularga, V. Coffey, B. Dennis, Y. Ebinhara, D. Falconer, G. Fisher, M.C. Fok, N. Fox, R. Frederick, M. Fillingim, C.D. Fry, A. Gary, P. Gallagher, G. Germany, B. Giles, C. Goodrich, J. Gosling, R. Heelis, W.J. Hughes, S. Kahler, G. Khazanov, M. Liemohn, C. Lemon, W.B. Manchester, T. Man-
nucci, T. Moore, R. Moore, W. Murtagh, P. Newell, G. Reeves, L. Scheirless, M. Schultz, A. Szabo, S.T. Suess, A.H. Wang, R. Weigel, D. Weimer, G. Wilson. Finally, none of this would have happened without the help of Mark Adrian, now at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who helped keep things on track, the conference coordinator Peggy Moss and Janet Christensen who made the workshop happen and to Pat Corder who made the assembly of this special issue possible. We trust that the contents of this special issue will be useful to the advancement of knowledge and understanding by providing information, guidance, and ideas that help resolve the difficult problems associated with this complex coupled system and by serving as a ‘snapshot’ of the current state of modeling for this community.
Guest Editor James F. Spann NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Science and Exploration Research Office (VP60), National Space Science and Technology Center, 320 Sparkman Dr, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA E-mail address: [email protected] (J.F. Spann)
Guest Editor S.-T. Wu Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, Olin B. King Technology Hall, Room S101, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA E-mail address: [email protected] (S.-T. Wu)