EGU22-5899, updated on 24 Oct 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5899
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Observation-based modelling of the energetic storm particle event of 14 July 2012

Nicolas Wijsen1, Angels Aran2, Camilla Scolini3,4, David Lario5, Alexandr Afanasiev6, Rami Vainio6, Jens Pomoell7, Blai Sanahuja2, and Stefaan Poedts1,8
Nicolas Wijsen et al.
  • 1Department of Mathematics/Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  • 2Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics, Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Spain
  • 3Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, NH, USA
  • 4CPAESS, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
  • 5NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Science Division, MD, USA
  • 6Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland
  • 7Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland
  • 8Institute of Physics, University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska, Poland

In this work, we model the energetic storm particle (ESP) event of 14 July 2012 using the energetic particle acceleration and transport model named PARADISE (PArticle Radiation Asset Directed at Interplanetary Space Exploration), together with the solar wind and coronal mass ejection (CME) model named EUHFORIA (EUropean Heliospheric FORcasting Information Asset).  The CME generating the ESP event is simulated by using the spheromak model of EUHFORIA, which approximates the CME’s magnetic field as a linear force-free spheroidal magnetic field. The energetic particles are modelled by injecting a seed population of 50 KeV protons continiously at the CME-driven shock wave. The simulation results illustrate both the capabilities and limitations of the utilised models.  

We find that for energies below 1 MeV, the simulation results agree well with the upstream and downstream components of the ESP event observed by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).  This suggests that these low-energy protons are mainly the result of interplanetary particle acceleration. In the downstream region, the sharp drop in the energetic particle intensities is reproduced at the entry into the following magnetic cloud, illustrating the importance of a magnetised CME model.

This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870405 (EUHFORIA 2.0).

How to cite: Wijsen, N., Aran, A., Scolini, C., Lario, D., Afanasiev, A., Vainio, R., Pomoell, J., Sanahuja, B., and Poedts, S.: Observation-based modelling of the energetic storm particle event of 14 July 2012, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5899, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5899, 2022.