Global Simulations of the March 17, 2013 Storm: Importance of Boundary Conditions in Reproducing Ring Current Observations

As modeling capabilities become increasingly available for the study of inner magnetospheric dynamics, the models' boundary conditions remain a crucial controlling factor in reproducing observations. In this study, we use the kinetic Ring current-Atmosphere Interaction Model (RAM) two-way coupled with the global MHD model BATS-R-US to study the evolution of the ring current and its feedback to the ionospheric electrodynamics during the March 17, 2013 storm. The MHD code solves fluid quantities and provides the inner magnetosphere code with plasma sheet plasma, which is the primary source for the development of the ring current. In this study, we examine the effect of different boundary conditions in specifying the plasma sheet plasma source on reproducing observations of the inner magnetospheric/subauroral region, such as in-situ observations (e.g., flux, magnetic fields, and electric fields) from Van Allen Probes (RBSP), field-aligned currents from AMPERE, and global convection maps from SuperDARN. These different boundary settings include a Maxwellian distribution assumption with MHD single-fluid temperature and density, a Kappa distribution assumption with MHD single-fluid temperature and density, and a bi-Maxwellian distribution with anisotropic pressures passed from the MHD code. Results indicate that a Kappa distribution at the boundary of RAM leads to a better ring current flux prediction than that with a Maxwellian distribution assumption, as well as a more realistic spatial distribution of ion anisotropy, which is important in driving electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. The anisotropic pressure coupling between the kinetic code and the MHD code with a bi-Maxwellian function significantly improves the agreement with observations, especially the Dst index prediction.