Solar Wind Simulations from the Sun to Earth Using a Data-Driven, MHD Model and Characteristically-Consistent Boundary Conditions Derived from SDO/HMI Vector Magnetograms

The solar wind (SW) emerging from the Sun is the main driving mechanism of solar events which may lead to geomagnetic storms that are the primary causes of space weather disturbances that affect the magnetic environment of Earth and may have hazardous effects on the space-borne and ground-based technological systems as well as human health. Therefore, accurate modeling of the SW is very important to understand the underlying mechanisms of such storms. We have developed a data-driven, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of the global solar corona which utilizes characteristic boundary conditions implemented within the Multi-Scale Fluid-Kinetic Simulation Suite (MS-FLUKSS) - a collection of problem oriented routines incorporated into the Chombo adaptive mesh refinement framework developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Our global solar corona model can be driven by both time-dependent and Carrington-rotation averaged vector magnetogram synoptic map data obtained by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (SDO/HMI) and the horizontal velocity data on the photosphere obtained by applying the Differential Affine Velocity Estimator for Vector Magnetograms method on the HMI-observed vector magnetic fields. In this study, we will present the results of three-dimensional global simulations of SW propagation from the Sun to Earth by using our global solar corona and inner heliosphere models and validate our results using spacecraft data at 1 AU.