An Approach to Model Earth Conductivity Structures with Lateral Changes for Calculating Induced Currents and Geoelectric Fields during Geomagnetic Disturbances

Figure 1

Sketch of the computational model used for 2D FEM implementation. Quebec has 5 layers. The layer thicknesses are  km and the layer conductivities are  S/m. BC has 8 layers. The layer thicknesses are  km and the layer conductivities are  S/m. Only several top layers of a 2D Earth model with the corresponding conductivity values in each layer are shown. The bottom boundary of the model is set at the depth of 1000 km to satisfy the boundary conditions of the magnetic field being sufficiently attenuated. The top boundary , the bottom boundary , and the side boundaries are also shown in the figure.