Work Description

MHD-EPIC simulation data for magnetospheric sawtooth events

This data set contains the simulation results that are used to produce the figures in the paper: Xiantong Wang et al. "Simulation of Magnetospheric Sawtooth Oscillations: the Role of Kinetic Reconnection in the Magnetotail" [doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10511415.1](doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10511415.1) (2022)

The .plt file is the binary file for Tecplot software and the .lay file is the plotting script opened by Tecplot to generate figures, respectively.
The .vtk file is the binary file for Paraview and the .pvsm file is the script read by Paraview.
Tecplot is a commercial software that needs proper license, while Paraview is an open source software.
The .sav file is the IDL binary format, which can be read by a Python package astropy.
The description and the IDL scripts to open the .out format files can be found through the http://csem.engin.umich.edu/tools/swmf web site after registration. The scripts generating figures are also included in this data set.

The code generating the simulation data is the Space Weather Modeling Framework(SWMF) developed in the University of Michigan, the SWMF is a combination of multiple components, the code versions (date and commmit hash #) of each components are listed below:

Figure 1

This figure is generated by Tecplot. The data file is 3d__var_5_t00010000_n00252240.plt and the plotting script is 3d_plot.lay.

Figure 2

This figure is the comparison between the model outputs and observations. The plot is generated by the Jupyter Notebook plot_inc_angle.ipynb. Notice that this Jupyter Notebook also generates Figure 4. The associated data files are:

• bvec_8RE_fleks_epic.sav
• bvec_8RE_fleks_hall.sav
• bvec_8RE_fleks_ideal.sav
• bvec_8RE_fleks_weak.sav
• polar_obs.dat

Figure 3

This figure is the illustration of the kinetic energy in the simulation domain.
Panel (a) is generated by the Jupyter Notebook plot_kinetic_energy.ipynb and the associated data file is log_fleks.log.

Panels (b) - (e) are contour plots on the current sheet surface. The Paraview Macro is recorded in ekins0.psvm and the Python script plot_ekin.py is called to generate the figures. Notice that the file name needs to be changed individually.
The associated data files are:

• 3d_var_region0_2_t00044800_n00230400.vtk
• 3d_var_region0_2_t00051400_n00251200.vtk
• 3d_var_region0_2_t00063000_n00312000.vtk
• 3d_var_region0_2_t00070100_n00336800.vtk

Figure 4

This figure shows the contour of the inclination angle with longitude. The plot is generated by the Jupyter Notebook plot_inc_angle.ipynb. Notice that this Jupyter Notebook also generates Figure 2. The associated data files are the same in generating Figure 2.