SWIFF: Space weather integrated forecasting framework

¹ Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
² Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Space Physics, 3 ringlaan, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium
³ Astronomical Institute, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, AS CR, Boční II 1401, 14131 Prague, Czech Republic
⁴ Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Pisa, Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy
⁶ Laboratoire de PIIM, UMR 6633, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Universite, Marseille, France
⁷ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 3, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
⁸ School of Mathematics & Statistics, University of St Andrews, North haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, Scotland
⁹ INAF – Turin Astronomical Observatory, via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
¹⁰ INAF – Catania Astrophysical Observatory, via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
¹¹ Main Astronomical Observatory, NAS of Ukraine, Zabolotnoho 27, 03680 Kyiv, Ukraine
¹² PDC Center for High Performance Computing, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

^* corresponding author: e-mail: giovanni.lapenta@wis.kuleuven.be

Received: 1 May 2012
Accepted: 27 January 2013

Abstract

SWIFF is a project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission to study the mathematical-physics models that form the basis for space weather forecasting. The phenomena of space weather span a tremendous scale of densities and temperature with scales ranging 10 orders of magnitude in space and time. Additionally even in local regions there are concurrent processes developing at the electron, ion and global scales strongly interacting with each other. The fundamental challenge in modelling space weather is the need to address multiple physics and multiple scales. Here we present our approach to take existing expertise in fluid and kinetic models to produce an integrated mathematical approach and software infrastructure that allows fluid and kinetic processes to be modelled together. SWIFF aims also at using this new infrastructure to model specific coupled processes at the Solar Corona, in the interplanetary space and in the interaction at the Earth magnetosphere.