Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) Global MHD Code

The LFM Code is an integrated simulation model for the global magnetosphere-ionosphere system. The heart of the model is a time-dependent, ideal MHD calculation of the state of the magnetosphere. This magnetospheric model is tightly coupled to a realistic model for the polar ionospheres and is driven by solar wind plasma and magnetic field data upwind of the calculation domain. While lacking important physical processes in both the magnetosphere and ionosphere, the model is the simplest, self-consistent first principles model possible. With current computational capabilities, it is also the only type of model capable of providing reasonable quantitative accuracy in simulating the magnetosphere-ionosphere system.