Authors: Christopher Rowell, Dr. Ming Zhang

Solar wind parameters are continuously monitored by spacecraft orbiting Earth. It is desirable to know when a solar wind stream was released from the sun so that it can be linked to its origins and magnetic connectivity between Earth and the solar corona can be found. The ultimate purpose of this work is to develop MHD simulation software that will use time series data collected around Earth to generate a steady-state background for the solar wind. A one-dimensional MHD simulation is first run backward in time utilizing measured data at Earth as input. Using time reversal techniques for any kind of fluid simulation can quickly become problematic since the governing equations are generally time-irreversible in the presence of numerical diffusion. This project exploits the minimally diffusive nature of the solar wind to approximate reverse time flow. Time parity is applied to the input data, which allows for the software to simulate backward time flow with minimal code adjustments readily. From the time-backward simulation, a spatial map of the inner boundary surface near the sun (21.5 solar radii) is constructed, and it can used as input to a two-dimensional MHD simulation run forward in time. This run assumes the source of solar wind streams with an embedded radial magnetic field rigidly co-rotates with the sun. The results from the 2D run provide the background solar wind and interplanetary magnetic fields. Magnetic connectivity between Earth and the solar corona can be determined from the time-forward simulation for the purpose of monitoring solar energetic particle events produced by CMEs or solar flares.