Coupling the Rice convection model-equilibrium to the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry Global Magnetohydrodynamic Model

To this end, we have implemented a coupling of the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) global magnetohydrodynamic model with the Rice convection model-equilibrium (RCM-E) of the inner-magnetosphere and plasma sheet. This one-way coupling scheme allows continuous update of the RCM-E boundary conditions from the plasma moments calculated by the LFM while preserving entropy conservation.

This results in a model that has the high-resolution self-consistent description of the inner magnetosphere and includes the effects of time-dependent outer-magnetospheric electromagnetic fields and plasma configurations. In addition, driving the RCM-E in this way resolves the issue of having a plasma-beta-constrained region in the coupled model of LFM-RCM and expands the RCM-E simulation region farther out into plasma sheet where the storm-time plasma transportation takes place.