Flux Rope Visualization through an Interactive Interface
Abstract
The entrained magnetic structures associated with Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICMEs) are the main drivers of geomagnetic activity. To develop robust space weather forecast capabilities, it is necessary to reliably predict the internal magnetic structure of ICMEs. Often, the in-situ imprints of the ICMEs display signatures of a confined magnetized plasma wrapped by helical magnetic field lines. The modeling and 3D reconstruction efforts are based on flux-rope topologies; locally (in situ observations) based on axial-symmetric geometry, and globally (remote-sensing observations) based on a toroidal geometry. Still today, the reconciliation of both viewpoints lacks a model or reconstruction technique to connect both sides. To close the gap between local and global viewpoints, we have developed a tool that is capable of exhibiting 3D global views of flux rope reconstruction models from the results of in situ data. The reconstruction techniques used in this visualization tool are described by the Circular-Cylindrical Flux Rope model in Nieves-Chinchilla et al. 2018 (ApJ). The tool renders interactive 3D plots from user-defined model input parameters in a graphical user interface (GUI) using Python, allowing users to visualize how the input parameters directly affect the 3D reconstruction of the flux ropes. The models are displayed in a Sun-Earth system and for different observatories where users can visualize a spacecraft's trajectory through a flux rope in an interactive animation. The accuracy of these reconstruction models can be verified in the GUI by directly comparing the model predictions to magnetic in situ data in a 2D interactive plot. In addition, users can save images and animations of the flux rope as it propagates through space in different reference frames, add/remove field lines or represent the synthetic in-situ data for a given set of parameters.
- Publication:
-
43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 28 January - 4 February
- Pub Date:
- January 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021cosp...43E1761C