DYNAMICS OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE DURING THE 8 - 9 MARCH 2008 CIR/HSS DRIVEN GEOMAGNETIC STORM

Garg Shobhit, gargshobhit@ucla.edu, UCLA, United States
Peroomian Vahe, vahe@igpp.ucla.edu, UCLA
El-Alaoui Mostafa, mostafa@igpp.ucla.edu, UCLA

Abstract
We investigate the dynamics of the magnetosphere during the highly variable solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field during the 8 - 9 March 2008 geomagnetic storm event. This event began with the arrival of a density plug associated with a corotating interaction region at 0730 UT on 8 March, and was followed by the arrival of a high-speed stream (HSS) at 1830 UT on that same day. We examine this storm in detail by carrying out a high-resolution global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the event using upstream solar wind and inter-planetary magnetic eld data from the WIND spacecraft. We present details of this simulation, including the numerous boundary perturbations and direct solar wind entry events that result from highly variable IMF, especially in the HSS portion of the event. Finally, we compare our results to those obtained from the THEMIS spacecraft in the magnetotail during this event.