Validation of Model Results in Response to the COSPAR ISWAT Challenge

Abstract

The COSPAR International Space Weather Action Team (ISWAT) is a global hub for collaborations addressing challenges across the field of space weather. One of the objectives of the G3-04 team “Internal Charging Effects and the Relevant Space Environment” is model performance assessment and improvement. One of the expected outputs is a more systematic assessment of model performance under different conditions. The G3-04 team proposed performing benchmarking challenge runs. In this study, in response to the first benchmarking challenge (long-term simulation), we perform simulations for the year 2017 to validate the Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB) code. The challenge requires not using any of the measurements from the NASA' s Van Allen Probes for setting up parameters of the code, such as boundary and initial conditions. In our simulations, we use data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) to set up the outer boundary condition, which is the only data input for simulations. We validate our simulation results against measurements from Van Allen Probes. In particular, we ‘fly’ a virtual satellite through our simulation results and compare the simulated differential electron fluxes at 0.9 MeV and 57.27 degrees local pitch-angle with the fluxes measured by the Van Allen Probes. In general, our simulation results show good agreement with observations. We calculated several different matrices to validate our simulation results against satellite observations. Using the similar approach, we extend our simulations to several years long period and validate our simulation results against satellite observations in both long-term and specific geomagnetic storms. Several different validation matrices are calculated for both long-term and specific events.