Exploring the Sensitivity of Auroral Current Closure to Neutral Winds Through GEMINI

The coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere (M-IT) system contains many complex interactions between neutral gas and plasma at a range of length and time scales. Many modern global circulation models use grid sizes too coarse to incorporate important aspects of small scale structures, for example those related to individual auroral features. This project uses the GEMINI ionospheric model, a physics-based, local-scale ionospheric model, to investigate the sensitivity of simulations of auroral dynamics to neutral winds model inputs. We make use of the large amount of data available from the Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) to provide constraints for our modeling studies, specifically DASC, PFISR, SuperDARN, SDI, ESA-Swarm, sounding rockets, etc. By looking at example cases from the nightside auroral zone Swarm over Poker 2023 campaign, we will determine the effect of the neutral wind on GEMINI models by imposing varying neutral wind fields to GEMINI runs. Understanding the relationship between the neutral wind and auroral current closure is an important step in modeling mesoscale M-IT structures. Future extensions of this work will make use of fully coupled plasma-neutral extensions to these models that make use of adaptive mesh refinement to capture multiple scales of interest. Eventually these approaches will enable us to trace forcing through the IT system as it's subjected to intense, mesoscale inputs, as well as how these manifest in plasma-neutral response.