Modelling Geoelectric Fields in Near Real-Time for Space Weather Applications 

John Malone-Leigh - Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland; Joan Campanyà-i-Llovet - Geological Survey Ireland, Ireland; Peter Gallagher - Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland; Jim Hodgson - Geological Survey Ireland, Ireland; Seán Blake - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, United States 

Session: QV - Ground-Level Geomagnetically Induced Currents

Abstract

Geoelectric fields are generated in the Earth’s lithosphere in response to geomagnetic variability, caused by magnetospheric and ionospheric processes, often associated with geomagnetic storms. These geoelectric fields are responsible for Geomagnetically-Induced-Currents (GICs) in ground-based infrastructure, such as power networks. Accurate modelling of GICs requires knowledge of intensity and direction of geoelectric fields. We present a method for modelling geoelectric fields in Ireland (caused by geomagnetic activity) in near real-time (to within an hour), using real-time measurements of geomagnetic conditions from the Magnetometer Network of Ireland (MagIE; www.magie.ie) and electromagnetic tensor relationships. The workflow for monitoring geoelectric fields includes: 1) Identifying and removing artificial noise from magnetometer data, 2) Interpolate magnetic fields over Ireland using Spherical Elementary Currents Systems (SECS), 3) Modelling geoelectric fields by adapting the fast fourier transform to work in real time, and 4) Mapping the modelled geoelectric fields and its uncertainties over Ireland. This work is supported by an Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Studentship between Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) and Geological Survey Ireland (GSI).