Vlasiator in 6D: magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling upgrades and automatic global flux rope identification

We present recent and upcoming upgrades to the coupled ionosphere model now included in the global hybrid-Vlasov magnetospheric simulation Vlasiator. The handling of the magnetic field at the boundary has been corrected. The model used to obtain the parameterized precipitating electron fluxes is being upgraded to a more modern and flexible approach, and that new model is applied to obtain the precipitating proton fluxes from their velocity distribution function at the coupling radius in the hybrid-Vlasov domain.

Benefiting from the development of efficient runtime tracing of the magnetic field at the highest resolution, magnetic connectivity information is available at every point in the simulation, at every step. This information allows fast identification of the major domains of the near-Earth environment. Using magnetic field connectivity information we also introduce a novel approach to automatically and comprehensively detect magnetic flux rope structures of any scale and spatial orientation in the whole simulation domain.