Ensemble modeling of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) provides a probabilistic forecast of CME arrival time which includes an estimation of arrival time uncertainty from the spread and distribution of predictions and forecast confidence in the likelihood of CME arrival. The real-time ensemble modeling of CME propagation uses the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA)-ENLIL+Cone model installed at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) and executed in real-time at the CCMC/Space Weather Research Center. The current implementation of this ensemble modeling method evaluates the sensitivity of WSA-ENLIL+Cone model simulations of CME propagation to initial CME parameters. We discuss the results of real-time ensemble simulations for a total of 35 CME events which occurred between January 2013 -July 2014. For the 17 events where the CME was predicted to arrive at Earth, the mean absolute arrival time prediction error was 12.3 hours, which is comparable to the errors reported in other studies. For predictions of CME arrival at Earth the correct rejection rate is 62%, the false-alarm rate is 38%, the correct alarm ratio is 77%, and false alarm ratio is 23%. The arrival time was within the range of the ensemble arrival predictions for 8 out of 17 events. The Brier Score for CME arrival predictions is 0.15 (where a score of 0 on a range of 0 to 1 is a perfect forecast), which indicates that on average, the predicted probability, or likelihood, of CME arrival is fairly accurate. The reliability of ensemble CME arrival predictions is heavily dependent on the initial distribution of CME input parameters (e.g. speed, direction, and width), particularly the median and spread. Preliminary analysis of the probabilistic forecasts suggests undervariability, indicating that these ensembles do not sample a wide enough spread in CME input parameters. Prediction errors can also arise from ambient model parameters, the accuracy of the solar wind background derived from coronal maps, or other model limitations. Finally, predictions of the K P geomagnetic index differ from observed values by less than one for 11 out of 17 of the ensembles and K P prediction errors computed from the mean predicted K P show a mean absolute error of 1.3.

[1] Extreme space weather events are known to cause adverse impacts on critical modern day technological infrastructure such as high-voltage electric power transmission grids. On 23 July 2012, NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-Ahead (STEREO-A) spacecraft observed in situ an extremely fast coronal mass ejection (CME) that traveled 0.96 astronomical units ( 1 AU) in about 19 h. Here we use the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) to perform a simulation of this rare CME. We consider STEREO-A in situ observations to represent the upstream L1 solar wind boundary conditions. The goal of this study is to examine what would have happened if this Rare-type CME was Earth-bound. Global SWMF-generated ground geomagnetic field perturbations are used to compute the simulated induced geoelectric field at specific ground-based active INTERMAGNET magnetometer sites. Simulation results show that while modeled global SYM-H index, a high-resolution equivalent of the Dst index, was comparable to previously observed severe geomagnetic storms such as the Halloween 2003 storm, the 23 July CME would have produced some of the largest geomagnetically induced electric fields, making it very geoeffective. These results have important practical applications for risk management of electrical power grids.

[1] We present simultaneous measurements of flow velocities inside a subauroral polarization stream (SAPS) made by six midlatitude high-frequency SuperDARN radars. The instantaneous observations cover three hours of universal time and six hours of magnetic local time (MLT). From velocity variations across the field-of-view of the radars we infer the local 2D flow direction at three different longitudes. We find that the local flow direction inside the SAPS channel is remarkably constant over the course of the event. The flow speed, however, shows significant temporal and spatial variations. After correcting for the radar look direction we are able to accurately determine the dependence of the SAPS velocity on magnetic local time. We find that the SAPS velocity variation with magnetic local time is best described by an exponential function. The average velocity at 00 MLT was 1.2 km/s and it decreased with a spatial e-folding scale of two hours of MLT toward the dawn sector. We speculate that the longitudinal distribution of pressure gradients in the ring current is responsible for this dependence and find these observations in good agreement with results from ring current models. Using TEC measurements we find that the high westward velocities of the SAPS are -as expected -located in a region of low TEC values, indicating low ionospheric conductivities.

A statistical study of the ion outflow versus energy input is performed by using multi‐instrument data (TIDE, EFI, MFI, HYDRA) from Polar during its perigee auroral passes in the year 2000. Several important physical quantities connected to the ion outflow have been investigated, including the Poynting flux from the perturbation fields (below 1/6 Hz), the electron density, temperature, and the electron energy flux. The perturbation fields used here to calculate the Poynting flux may be associated with the small‐scale quasi‐static field structures of the field‐aligned currents or/and the very low frequency Alfvén waves (below 1/6 Hz), which are both proven to be important energy sources for powering the aurora. Our results show that the field‐aligned ion outflow flux correlates best with the Earth‐directed Poynting flux and the precipitating electron density and also demonstrates almost no correlation with the electron energy flux and temperature. The findings from this Polar study are similar to those from FAST. The general corroboration between the independent data sets of the two spacecraft suggests that the empirical ion outflow scaling laws can be established, which will be beneficial to global simulation efforts. Our results show that at 6000 km altitudes fi = 106.836±0.028S0.535±0.086 and fi = 106.650±0.063ne0.484±0.147, where fi is the total field‐aligned ion outflow flux in 1/cm2/s, S is the Poynting flux in ergs/cm2/s, and ne is the electron density in 1/cm3.