These pages provide access to a suite of global MHD simulations relevant to the STEREO mission. More details on the MHD approach can be found in the references section of the User Guide. For simplicity, our initial simulations are all centered on a specific Carrington rotation. That is, we use a photospheric magnetic field synoptic map composed of a sequence of observations centered at central meridian and shifted in longitude by the appropriate amount. This map forms the fundamental boundary condition at the surface of the Sun. It is supplemented with auxiliary boundary conditions that approximate the plasma density and temperature.

 

The web pages are organized by mission, instrument, and general tools. The mission-related pages provide access to spacecraft trajectory data and other general information related to STEREO. Currently, we are providing explicit support for the SECCHI and IMPACT instruments (although the tools can be used for all STEREO instrumentation). In addition to providing an interface to view images and time series at specific time periods, we provide basic comparisons between the model results and data as well as visualizations that attempt to merge data and model results in ways that enhance the interpretation of the data. In addition, these comparisons provide a simple validation (we hope) of the model results. At the least, when the comparisons between data and observations are poor, care should be taken when interpreting observations using the model results.

 

The "MHDWEB" tools are a suite of general visualization and analysis tools. They are designed to allow a user to interact with the MHD simulation results independently of any specific mission. Basic 1-D and 2-D plotting routines allow the user to produce tailor-made plots. In addition, the "Summary Plots" page computes a photo-gallery summarizing the salient parameters of a particular simulation. We have also pre-computed several post-simulation parameters, including the coronal hole boundaries, polarized brightness, and an iso-surface of the heliospheric current sheet. Finally, for the truly brave, we provide a link to download the data from the simulation. Please consult the user guide for more information on how to download and analyze the data offline.

 

These pages are our first attempt to provide this level of modeling support for any mission and are currently a work in progress. If you have any suggestions on how to improve the experience, please send an email to webmaster@predsci.com.