Modeling Synthetic Aurora to Understand the Real Magnetosphere

During geomagnetically active periods, geospace behaves as a complex system with its domains coupled via a web of non-linear, cross-scale interactions. The nightside transition region (NTR), separating the magnetotail from the inner magnetosphere, plays a fundamental role in the system-level geospace response. Convection across the NTR builds the ring current, shaping the global current system that closes in the ionosphere, and during strongly disturbed times will induce a penetration electric field in the inner magnetosphere that leads to a dayside drainage plume. The nightside aurora is a reflection of these processes yet connecting magnetospheric drivers to their auroral manifestations is limited by sparse in situ measurements and mapping uncertainties. In this talk, I will show how global geospace modeling can be used to connect mesoscale auroral forms to their magnetospheric origins. Specifically, using the Multiscale Atmosphere Geospace Environment (MAGE) model, we construct synthetic aurora that can be compared directly to auroral imaging. In particular, I will show case studies including auroral beads, giant undulations, and omega bands with an emphasis on understanding the magnetospheric processes that give rise to these auroral forms.