Storm time polar cap expansion: IMF clock angle dependence

Abstract. It is well known that the polar cap, delineated by the Open Closed field line Boundary (OCB), responds to changes in the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). In general, the boundary moves equatorward when the IMF turns southward and contracts poleward when the IMF turns northward. However, observations of the OCB are spotty and limited in local time, making more detailed studies of its IMF dependence difficult. Here, we simulate five solar storm periods with the coupled model consisting of the Open Geospace General Circulation model (OpenGGCM) coupled with Coupled Thermosphere Ionosphere Model (CTIM) and the Rice Convection Model (RCM), i.e., the OpenGGCM-CTIM-RCM model, to estimate the location and dynamics of the OCB. For these events, polar cap boundary location observations are also obtained from Defense-Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) precipitation spectrograms and compared with the model output. There is a large scatter in the DMSP observations and in the model output. However, we generally find good agreement between the model and the observations. On average, the model overestimates the latitude of the open-closed field line boundary by 1.61 degrees. Additional analysis of the simulated polar cap boundary dynamics across all local times shows that the MLT of the largest polar cap expansion closely correlates with the IMF clock angle; that the strongest correlation occurs when the IMF is southward; that during strong southward IMF the polar cap shifts sunward; and that the polar cap rapidly contracts at all local times when the IMF turns northward.