Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 1

SWMF in Education

Michael W. LiemohnAtmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Dept.,

University of Michigan

SWMF Users Meeting, October 13-14, 2014

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 2

AOSS 477: Space Weather Modeling

U-M offers a senior-level course in space weather modeling Taken by all Space Weather concentration students in

our ESSE BSE degree program Also taken by a fraction of the space physics PhD

students Also taken by a few M-Eng in Space Engineering

students We've taught it 5 times now

Recently elevated to an every-year offering Using state-of-the-art space weather models

Not really a programming course We have a different one for that

AOSS 477 is a report-based course

Students use models and conduct their own space weather numerical investigation Several projects on using codes and writing/presenting

reports based on their numerical experiments Data used as model input and for model result comparison

Variety of student assessment criteria Many oral presentations and written reports Peer grading of the oral presentations In-class discussion participation

Class content is a mixture of modeling nuts-and-bolts, code usage and visualization, and research techniques

Students learn about the guts of numerical models used for space physics

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 3

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 4

Models Covered This Year MHD Models

Started with a general discussion of MHD equations, MHD extensions, and typical CFD techniques

BATS-R-US, LFM, OpenGGCM, Winglee code, ENLIL Inner Mag Models

HEIDI, RCM, RAM-SCB, CRCM/RBE/CIMI, VERB, DGCPM, IMPTAM, STET

Ionosphere-Thermosphere Codes GITM, SAMI, CTIP, TIEGCM

Kinetic Codes General discussion of test particle and hybrid modeling

Empirical Models Weimer codes, Tsyganenko family, IRI, MSIS, WINDMI,

formulaic models for magnetopause, CPCP, Dst Coupled code suites

SWMF, CISM, other examples from coupled codes at CCMC

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 5

CCMC and VMR: Great Education Sites!

CCMC has a lot of run results available for perusal Visualization options are straightforward and easy to learn Hundreds Thousands of SWMF runs (or with codes therein) At first: assign them a specific task Later on: give them a question to explore I like to do this via lots of in-class small group work

VMR: excellent geospace data-model comparison site Lead students in same type of exploration as with the CCMC

CCMC's iSWA/SWE Explore the real-time (or recent past) Sun-to-Earth space

weather connection with a create-it-yourself analysis page Many of the cygnets are linked to SWMF model output

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 6

Future Vision of SWMF Education Do more with more!

I'm the new AOSS "Development Committee" chair We're planning several student-focused initiatives

to be supported with gift funds One of them: Michigan Space Environment Center

Consolidate our space weather and engineering student programs

Provide support for undergrad, M-Eng, and PhD students Provide support for space weather/engineering projects,

including SWMF nowcasting/forecasting experiences

Please help us out! The link: http://aoss.engin.umich.edu/pages/aoss/

giving

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 7

Switch hats: SWMF and Publishing

Two quick points I'd like to cover Methodology section of your paper AGU's Data Policy and numerical modeling studies

My main point:

Reproducibility is a key factor for scientific publication

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 8

Methodology Sections Good to write out the whole equation set and code

implementation description every few years Enough so that others can reproduce your model Verify your model periodically

Show the reader the model is grid converged and mass/energy conserving

In between these big write-ups Just cite the paper with the full description Only describe in detail what is new, different, or most

critical to understanding the study Remember: do not cut-paste from previous papers

Most journals run a similarity report on new manuscripts

For me: several full paragraphs of overlap warrants rejection without review

Liemohn @ SWMF Users Meeting 9

Data Availability The world is moving towards "open data"

This includes "numerical data" from codes like the SWMF For AGU (specifically JGR Space Physics):

Code output used in the paper must be available Available = electronic supplement, U-M Deep Blue

repository, personal/group website, or "upon request" AGU Policy and code

Code itself should also be made available, but we are not enforcing this

Code must be fully described and verified in a published paper Highly commend the SWMF team for allowing free

download of the full code suite and run-on-request usage at CCMC

The pinnacle of current "code availability" practice in space physics To everyone out there: please follow the SWMF Rules of the Road