We present the first global geospace simulation to reproduce auroral giant undulations (GUs). To identify their magnetospheric drivers, we employ the MAGE (Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment) model in a case study of a geomagnetic storm for which there were spacecraft- and ground-based observations of GUs. The model reproduces the spatial and temporal scales of the GUs as well as the presence of duskside subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) and plasmapause undulations. Based on our modeling, we are able to identify the magnetospheric drivers of GUs as mesoscale ring current injections which, after drifting westward, create inverted regions of flux-tube entropy (FTE) and subsequent interchange instability. Outward-protruding interchange fingers disrupt shielding of the inner magnetosphere, creating longitudinally-localized ripples in magnetospheric convection equatorward of the magnetospheric instability, which structure the plasmapause and duskside diffuse precipitation. While not causal, SAPS and plasmapause undulations are a consequence of the unstable magnetospheric configuration.

Turbulent and compressed sheath regions preceding interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) strongly impact electron dynamics in the outer radiation belt. Changes in electron flux can occur on timescales of tens of minutes, which is difficult to capture by a two-satellite mission such as the Van Allen Probes (RBSP). The recently released Global Positioning System (GPS) data set has higher data density owing to the large number of satellites in the constellation equipped with energetic particle detectors. Investigating electron fluxes in a wide range of energies and sheaths observed from 2012 to 2018, we show that the flux response to sheaths on a timescale of 6 hours, previously reported from RBSP data, is reproduced by GPS measurements. Furthermore, GPS data enables derivation of the response on a shorter timescale of 30 minutes, which further confirms that the energy and L-shell dependent changes in electron flux are due to the impact of the sheath. Sheath-driven loss is underestimated over longer timescales as the electrons recover during the ejecta. We additionally show the response of electron phase space density (PSD), which is a key quantity in identifying true loss from the system and electron energization through wave-particle interactions. The PSD response is calculated from both RBSP and GPS data for the 6-hour timescale, as well as from GPS data for the 30-minute timescale. The response is divided based on the geoeffectiveness of the sheaths revealing that electrons are effectively accelerated only during geoeffective sheaths, while loss is commonly caused by all sheaths.

The event of 8 September 2017 was characterized by the effects of the arrival of two interplanetary coronal mass ejections on September 6th and 7th and a resultant geomagnetic storm. This storm event has been widely studied due to its extreme geo-effectiveness in the global geospace. In the inner magnetosphere, the effects included a distinct intensification of the ring current and a severely eroded plasmasphere. However, little attention has been paid to the role that the observed substorm injections played on the storm-time ring current. Starting at 1209 UT on September 8th, multiple substorm onsets occurred spreading over a wide magnetic local time range on the dawn side. Multiple substorm injections were observed simultaneously at geosynchronous orbit by the Los Alamos National Laboratory satellites and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, and by both the Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace/Arase and the Van Allen Probes missions deep in the inner magnetosphere. Subsequent buildup of the ring current was observed. In this study, we will investigate the role of the substorm injections on the extreme ring current response by numerical simulations with the physics-based Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere-Ionosphere model using the geosynchronous data as boundary conditions to the model. Since the ring current has a strong influence on the inner magnetospheric dynamics, we also consider its impacts on the dynamics of the electric field and the plasmasphere. Furthermore, this study addresses the critical need to include substorms in evaluating the geo-effectiveness of geomagnetic storms.

In a recent study by Shekhar et. al. 2021, a moderate geomagnetic storm (sym-H$\sim$-100 nT) during 28th-29th June 2013 was studied using CIMI (Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere-Ionosphere) simulations and results were compared with TWINS (Two wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers) observations. The CIMI simulations did not include ion injections. As a result, TWINS and CIMI results were found to disagree on the number and locations of ion pressure peaks and ion drift patterns. In this study, CIMI simulations were performed with the inclusion of ion injections using the geosynchronous particle flux data from 6 LANL satellites as boundary conditions. Comparisons of the spatial and temporal evolution of ring current (RC) ions including ion pressure, anisotropy, intensity and median energy, the ion spectrum at the ion pressure peak locations show improved agreements with TWINS observations, specifically in the recovery phase post 06 UT on 29th June, when rapid AE index fluctuations were observed.