Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of the Interaction between Interplanetary Strong Shock and Magnetic Cloud and its Consequent Geoeffectiveness

TL;DR

This study uses 2.5D MHD simulations to analyze how strong shocks interact with magnetic clouds in space and how this interaction intensifies geomagnetic storms, providing insights into space weather phenomena.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed simulation of shock-MC interactions in heliospheric space, revealing how shocks enhance geoeffectiveness by compressing and rotating magnetic fields.

Findings

Shock overtaking and merging with magnetic clouds intensifies geomagnetic storms.

Maximum geoeffectiveness occurs when shock enters the core of the magnetic cloud.

Shock-MC interaction can increase geomagnetic storm strength by up to 80%.

Abstract

Numerical studies have been performed to interpret the observed "shock overtaking magnetic cloud (MC)" event by a 2.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model in heliospheric meridional plane. Results of an individual MC simulation show that the MC travels with a constant bulk flow speed. The MC is injected with very strong inherent magnetic field over that in the ambient flow and expands rapidly in size initially. Consequently, the diameter of MC increases in an asymptotic speed while its angular width contracts gradually. Meanwhile, simulations of MC-shock interaction are also presented, in which both a typical MC and a strong fast shock emerge from the inner boundary and propagate along heliospheric equator, separated by an appropriate interval. The results show that the shock firstly catches up with the preceding MC, then penetrates through the MC, and finally merges with the MC-driven shock into a stronger compound shock. The morphologies of shock front in interplanetary space and MC body behave as a central concave and a smooth arc respectively. The compression and rotation of magnetic field serve as an efficient mechanism to cause a large geomagnetic storm. The MC is highly compressed by the the overtaking shock. Contrarily, the transport time of incidental shock influenced by the MC depends on the interval between their commencements. Maximum geoeffectiveness results from that when the shock enters the core of preceding MC, which is also substantiated to some extent by a corresponding simplified analytic model. Quantified by $Dst$ index, the specific result gives that the geoeffectiveness of an individual MC is largely enhanced with 80% increment in maximum by an incidental shock.