SWMF Downloadable software

SWMF logo

The Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) is a software package that provides a common operating environment for the various modeling components it includes. Each of the SWMF components models a particular aspect of space weather (sun, heliosphere, magnetosphere, etc), and there are various commands that allows the user to control how those models run and interact with each other. The SWMF can also be used for many other applications not related to space weather, including but not restricted to high energy density physics, exoplanets, general plasma physics. The SWMF review paper provides more detailed information.

For a full explanation of the framework, please visit the Space Weather Modeling Framework page.

Open source SWMF (MSTEM-QUDA)

The open source version of the SWMF is the Michigan Sun-to-Earth Model with Quantified Uncertainty and Data Assimilation (MSTEM-QUDA distributed under a non-commercial license. MSTEM-QUDA contains the following components of the SWMF:

  • SWMF core
  • BATSRUS – general MHD model
  • RCM – inner magnetosphere model
  • RBE – radiation belt model
  • RIM – ionosphere electrodynamics model
  • BATL – Block Adaptive Tree Library
  • share – shared library for the SWMF and its components
  • util – utilities for the SWMF and its components
  • swmfpy – python library for the SWMF

MSTEM-QUDA contains BATSRUS user modules for the sun-to-earth application only. MSTEM-QUDA is updated continuously from the main SWMF repository github.com/SWMFsoftware. The SWMF developers do not promise any user support for MSTEM-QUDA, although we may answer questions and respond to reasonable bug reports and feature requests. If MSTEM-QUDA satisfies your needs, please use it and enjoy!

Full SWMF

Access to the full SWMF requires user registration and signing the user license agreement. Send e-mail to swmf.support@umich.edu with the following information:

  • Full name
  • Affiliation and professional email address that corresponds to the affiliation
  • Description of the intended application(s)
  • Signed copy of the user license agreement

If your application is approved, you will be added to the user or developer team on github.com/SWMFsoftware.

SWMF Runs on Request

To run the SWMF you will need access to a Linux/Unix/OSX computer with a Fortran compiler. Large applications will require many CPU cores and the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library. If you do not have access to a large computer, you may consider using the runs-on-request service of the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) .

Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (GITM)

The Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (GITM) is also part of the SWMF. GITM is maintained by Prof. Aaron Ridley and it is available on Github under a user license.

Block-Adaptive-Tree Solarwind Roe-type Upwind Scheme (BATS-R-US)

The BATS-R-US extended MHD model is part of the SWMF as well as MSTEM-QUDA. Not all user modules of BATSRUS can be accessed through MSTEM-QUDA. Some applications using BATSRUS are also available through the CCMC runs-on-request service.

Code for Radiation Shock Hydrodynamics (CRASH)

CRASH is a high energy density plasma (HEDP) application of BATS-R-US. The CRASH user module is only available through the full SWMF with user registration.

Finite Difference Iterative Potential-field Solver (FDIPS)

FDIPS is a Finite Difference Iterative Potential-field Solver that can generate the 3D potential magnetic field solution based on a magnetogram. FDIPS is written in Fortran 90 and it uses the MPI library for parallel execution. Please read the README file first. Then you can download FDIPS_v1.2.tgz .

For technical information on FDIPS, please read our paper: “Obtaining Potential Field Solution with Spherical Harmonics and Finite Differences” by Gabor Toth, Bart van der Holst, and Zhenguang Huang, Astrophysical Journal, 732, 102, 2011. DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/732/2/102. If you find FDIPS useful, please cite the paper above in your publications.

Enjoy!