Past, Present, and Future of Three-Dimensional FDTD Maxwell's Equations Modeling of the Global Earth-Ionosphere Waveguide

Advances in computing technologies in recent decades have provided a means of generating and performing highly sophisticated computational simulations of electromagnetic phenomena. In particular, around the turn of the 21st century, improvements to computing infrastructures provided for the first time the opportunity to conduct advanced, high-resolution three dimensional (3-D) full-vector Maxwell’s equations investigations of electromagnetic propagation throughout the global Earth-ionosphere annular volume. Employing the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method, these models are capable of including such details as the Earth’s topography and bathymetry, as well as arbitrary horizontal / vertical geometrical and electrical inhomogeneities and anisotropies of the ionosphere, lithosphere, and oceans.

This talk will first review computational modeling research performed by my group in the area of global FDTD propagation modeling. Specifically, I will begin by describing the initial 3-D spherical-coordinate, latitude-longitude model employing an adaptive East-West cellcombination technique. Then I will progress to the more recent, efficient 3-D geodesic grid of the global Earth-ionosphere waveguide. Past applications of this work will be provided, including modeling of hypothesized earthquake precursors, remote sensing of oil deposits, and remote sensing of ionospheric anomalies.

This talk will continue with a description of ongoing work and future possibilities for global FDTD models. For example, using a recently developed 3-D FDTD algorithm for cold plasma, an Earth-ionosphere model is being developed to include for the first time on a global scale anisotropic wave propagation effects introduced by the Earth’s magnetic field and ionosphere plasma. As future work, among other applications, this new global model will be used to study a variety of space weather effects on the ionosphere and ground-level electric and magnetic fields.