Mathematical Modeling of Electrodynamics Near the Surface of Earth and Planetary Water Worlds

dc.contributor.authorTyler, Robert H.
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-25T15:11:54Z
dc.date.available2022-05-25T15:11:54Z
dc.date.issued2017-09-01
dc.description.abstractAn interesting feature of planetary bodies with hydrospheres is the presence of an electrically conducting shell near the global surface. This conducting shell may typically lie between relatively insulating rock, ice, or atmosphere, creating a strong constraint on the flow of large-scale electric currents. All or parts of the shell may be in fluid motion relative to main components of the rotating planetary magnetic field (as well as the magnetic fields due to external bodies), creating motionally-induced electric currents that would not otherwise be present. As such, one may expect distinguishing features in the types of electrodynamic processes that occur, as well as an opportunity for imposing specialized mathematical methods that efficiently address this class of application. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss such specialized methods. Specifically, thin-shell approximations for both the electrodynamics and fluid dynamics are combined to derive simplified mathematical formulations describing the behavior of these electric currents as well as their associated electric and magnetic fields. These simplified formulae allow analytical solutions featuring distinct aspects of the thin-shell electrodynamics in idealized cases. A highly efficient numerical method is also presented that is useful for calculations under inhomogeneous parameter distributions. Finally, the advantages as well as limitations in using this mathematical approach are evaluated. This evaluation is presented primarily for the generic case of bodies with water worlds or other thin spherical conducting shells. More specific discussion is given for the case of Earth, but also Europa and other satellites with suspected oceans.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe author acknowledges support from the following NASA programs: Earth Surfaces and Interiors, Outer Planets, Planetary Atmospheres. The author extends special thanks to Jakub Velimsky for a careful review of the derivations, Weijia Kuang, Terence Sabaka, and J. Velimsky for helpful comments, and T. Sabaka for software for calculating the spherical harmonic transforms.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170011279en_US
dc.format.extent62 pagesen_US
dc.genretechnical reportsen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2xjvd-fbc8
dc.identifier.citationTyler, Robert H. Mathematical Modeling of Electrodynamics Near the Surface of Earth and Planetary Water Worlds. NASA (2017). https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170011279en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/24721
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherNASAen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
dc.relation.ispartofseriesNASA;TM–2017-219022
dc.rightsThis is a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.en_US
dc.rightsPublic Domain Mark 1.0*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/*
dc.titleMathematical Modeling of Electrodynamics Near the Surface of Earth and Planetary Water Worldsen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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