A general curvilinear magnetic field-line-following coordinate system
for ionosphere-plasmasphere modeling
Abstract
We propose a simple way to define a field-line-following, general
curvilinear coordinate system for a general magnetic field. This
definition of field-line-following coordinate system reduces to a usual
definition of dipole coordinate system when the magnetic field is
approximated by an axisymmetric dipole. In this way, it can facilitate
the numerical implementation by enabling validation of various metric
terms computed numerically against those defined analytically in the
case of dipole field. Steps involved in grid generation are also
sketched. Highly accurate results are obtained using the high-order
ordinary differential equation (ODE) solver to solve the general
magnetic field line equations. The accuracy and consistency of the
numerical implementation are validated against analytical results in the
case of a dipole field. Numerical results show that this
field-line-following coordinate system for the general magnetic field,
like the coordinates for the dipole field, is also an Euler potential or
Clebsch type coordinate system.