A physics-based software framework for sun-earth connection modeling

The Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) has been developed to provide NASA and the modeling community with a high-performance computational tool with " plug-and-play " capabilities to model the physics from the surface of the Sun to the upper atmosphere of the Earth. Its recently released working prototype includes five components for the following physics domains: Inner Heliosphere, Global Magnetosphere, Inner Magnetosphere, Ionosphere Electrodynamics and Upper Atmosphere. The SWMF is a structured collection of software building blocks to develop components for Sun-Earth system modeling, to couple them, and to assemble them into applications. A component is created from the user-supplied physics module by adding a wrapper, which provides the control functions, and coupling interface to perform the data exchange with other components. In its fully developed form, the SWMF will incorporate several more components (for example Solar Energetic Particles and Radiation Belt). It can also incorporate different versions - developed by the Sun-Earth modeling community - for each of the components. The SWMF Control Module is responsible for component registration, processor layout for each component, execution, and coupling schedules. We discuss the SWMF architecture, physics and implementation of component coupling, and results of some preliminary simulations that involve all five components.