CME propagation in the dynamically coupled space weather tool: COCONUT + EUHFORIA

TL;DR

This study demonstrates a coupled modeling approach combining COCONUT and EUHFORIA to simulate CME propagation from the solar corona to Earth, ensuring consistent heliospheric conditions and analyzing flux rope impacts.

Contribution

It introduces a time-dependent coupling method between COCONUT and EUHFORIA, enabling realistic simulation of CME evolution from the corona to Earth with flux rope models.

Findings

Heliospheric solar wind properties are consistent across models.

Flux rope disturbances evolve smoothly from corona to Earth.

Magnetic structures exhibit self-similar expansion, influenced by initial flux rope properties.

Abstract

This paper aims to present the time-dependent coupling between the coronal model COolfluid COroNal UnsTructured (COCONUT) and the heliospheric forecasting tool EUHFORIA. We perform six COCONUT simulations where a flux rope is implemented at the solar surface using either the Titov-D\'emoulin CME model or the Regularized Biot-Savart Laws (RBSL) CME model. At regular intervals, the magnetic field, velocity, temperature, and density of the 2D surface $R_{b}=21.5~\;R_{\odot}$ are saved in boundary files. This series of coupling files is read in a modified version of EUHFORIA to update progressively its inner boundary. After presenting the early stage of the propagation in COCONUT, we examine how the disturbance of the solar corona created by the propagation of flux ropes is transmitted into EUHFORIA. In particular, we consider the thermodynamic and magnetic profiles at L1 and compare them with those obtained at the interface between the two models. We demonstrate that the properties of the heliospheric solar wind in EUHFORIA are consistent with those in COCONUT, acting as a direct extension of the coronal domain. Moreover, the disturbances initially created from the propagation of flux ropes in COCONUT continue evolving from the corona in the heliosphere to Earth with a smooth transition at the interface between the two simulations. Looking at the profile of magnetic field components at Earth and different distances from the Sun, we also find that the transient magnetic structures have a self-similar expansion in COCONUT and EUHFORIA. However, the amplitude of the profiles depends on the flux rope model used and its properties, thus emphasizing the important role of the initial properties in solar source regions for accurately predicting the impact of CMEs.