Broadband Electron Precipitation in Global MHD Simulation and its Effect on the Ionosphere

A broadband electron (BBE) precipitation model is implemented and analyzed in the MI coupling module of the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry MHD simulation. Both number flux and energy flux of precipitating BBEs are regulated by MHD variables calculated near the low-altitude boundary of the LFM simulation. An empirical relation deduced from results of Keiling et al. (2003) is used to relate the AC Poynting flux to the energy flux precipitating BBEs in the simulation. We are investigating two different ways of regulating the number flux of BBE precipitation, one using an empirical relation between AC Poynting flux and number flux (Strangeway, unpublished) and another by constraining the intensity and cut-off energy of a fixed-pitch angle distribution of BBEs in terms of MHD simulation variables. The contributions to ionospheric conductance from BBE precipitation are evaluated using empirical relations derived by Robinson et al. (1987). The BBE-induced-conductance is added to the “standard” auroral contribution to conductance derived from monoenergetic and diffuse electron precipitation in the existing LFM precipitation model. The simulation is driven by ideal SW/IMF conditions with Vsw=400 km/s, Nsw=5/cc and Bz=-5 nT. The simulated time-average AC Poynting flux pattern resembles statistical patterns from Polar data (Keiling et al. 2003), and the simulated statistical pattern of BBE number flux resembles the statistical maps derived from DMSP data (Newell et al. 2009) on the nightside with a similar dawn-dusk asymmetry. The ionospheric Pedersen and Hall conductances are enhanced about 20% by the BBE precipitation. The number flux produced by BBEs is the same order of magnitude as that of monoenergetic and diffuse electrons. We thus expect BBE precipitation to have a moderate effect on the E-region ionosphere and a more significant influence on the density distribution of the F-region ionosphere.