Solar Wind Predictions at Jupiter and Mars

Measurements of the solar wind conditions upstream of planetary magnetosphere are typically not available concurrently with in situ magnetospheric measurements. Therefore, we must rely on models that propagate solar wind data measured at the Earth’s orbit at 1 AU out to planetary orbits, including Jupiter’s orbit at 5.2 AU. This dataset contains model output files from a 2-D multi-fluid MHD solar wind propagation model, called SWMF-OH, that predict the solar wind conditions upstream of Jupiter during Juno’s prime and extended missions. It provides solar wind predictions at both Mars and Jupiter, for comparison with MAVEN and Juno in situ data, respectively, and at Juno’s position in the solar wind during its approach to Jupiter (2014-2016). The SWMF-OH model was adapted by Boston University Senior Research Scientist Bertalan Zieger from the outer heliosphere (OH) component of the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) (Tóth et al., 2012), which is a 3-D global multi-fluid MHD model of the outer heliosphere with one ion fluid and four neutral populations (Opher et al., 2006; 2009). It provides time-dependent 2-D multi-fluid MHD simulations of solar wind propagation from a heliocentric distance of 1 AU up to 50 AU. Model inputs are hourly OMNI data of the measured solar wind density, velocity, magnetic field, and temperature. Model outputs include the solar wind density, plasma temperature, velocity, and all three components of the IMF. The files include: year, month (integer number 1-12), day (integer number 1-31), hour, position in HCI cartesian coordinates, solar wind number density, solar wind velocity in RTN coordinates, interplanetary magnetic field in RTN coordinates, solar wind thermal pressure, and current density in RTN coordinates (see header line in each file for units). A significant advantage of this model is that it can predict all three components of the interplanetary magnetic field. 1-D MHD models cannot propagate BR because of the divergence-free nature of the magnetic field (see discussion in Zieger and Hansen, 2008). Predicting the IMF is crucial for fully understanding the interaction between the solar wind and Jupiter’s magnetosphere, for example in determining whether the IMF orientation was favorable for dayside reconnection. Additionally, SWMF-OH does a good job of predicting intervals of increased solar wind PDyn from corotating interaction regions even when the Earth-Sun-Jupiter angle is large. Finally, it is useful to consider output from multiple models wherever possible, since we can have additional confidence in the predictions when results of different models agree.