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LWS: Large Scale Consequences of Small Scale Auroral Structures D. Lummerzheim, A. Otto, W. Bristow, and M. H. Rees.
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LWS: Large Scale Consequences of Small Scale Auroral StructuresD. Lummerzheim, A. Otto, W. Bristow, and M. H. Rees We set up a 3-D simulation of the aurora by applying shear to the plasma at the top of the simulation domain (about 1 RE). This generates currents, leads to a tearing instability further down, and generates aurora. Visualization of aurora. This image is generated directly from the simulation results. These plots show the temporal development of the auroral current sheet in the simulation.
LWS: Large Scale Consequences of Small Scale Auroral Structures Total Joule heating rate (arb. units) from the simulation at 120 km altitude as a function of time after shear was applied at the upper boundary. The Joule heating rate was calculated from the simulation using different spatial (horizontal) resolutions. The solid line shows the highest resolution, and gives the highest heating rate at all times. The lowest resolution is comparable to typical AMIE model runs with satellite image derived auroral inputs. These model calculations clearly show a dramatic increase in local Joule heating when small scale auroral structures are correctly included in the calculations. Example: Joule Heating in Aurora