Gorgon magnetospheric simulations of the May 2024 and October 2024 geomagnetic storms

Extreme space weather events pose a significant risk to modern society, but their inherent rarity limits our ability to evaluate forecasting performance and societal resilience during the most severe geomagnetic storms. In this talk, we use the Gorgon global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model to simulate the severe geomagnetic storms of May 2024 and October 2024 and compare the results. We evaluate key global MHD simulation benchmarks, including magnetopause location, cross-polar cap potential (CPCP), and geomagnetic indices derived from modelled ground magnetic field disturbances. The simulated CPCP and Kp indices show good agreement with observations, successfully reproducing both the sudden storm commencement and overall storm intensity. We then investigate the influence of the ring current on the magnetospheric system through coupling with a kinetic inner magnetosphere model, assessing its contributions to magnetospheric structure and boundaries, and ground magnetic perturbations.