GAMERA-Helio News

November 2024

As of November 20, 2024 the GAMERA-Helio model version 1 is available to the community through the CCMC Runs-On-Request (ROR) service via this submission URL.

GAMERA (Grid Agnostic MHD for Extended Research Applications) is a time-dependent MHD code designed to combine geometric flexibility with high-order spatial reconstruction and constrained transport to maintain the divergence-free magnetic field. GAMERA_Helio is a version of GAMERA tailored for modeling the solar wind in the inner heliosphere. GAMERA carries on the legacy of its predecessor, the LFM (Lyon–Fedder–Mobarry), a research code whose use in space physics has spanned three decades. At the time of its initial development, the LFM code had a number of novel features: eighth-order centered spatial differencing, the Partial Donor Cell Method limiter for shock capturing, a non-orthogonal staggered mesh with constrained transport, and conservative averaging-reconstruction for axis singularities. The capability to handle multiple ion species was also added later. GAMERA preserves the core numerical philosophy of LFM while also incorporating numerous algorithmic and computational improvements. The upgrades in the numerical schemes include accurate grid metric calculations using high-order Gaussian quadrature techniques, high-order upwind reconstruction, non-clipping options for interface values, and improved treatment of axis singularities.

The current implementation of Gamera-Helio at the CCMC supporst time-dependent modeling of the ambient solar wind, driven at its inner radial boundary by output from the WSA model of the inner corona.