NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Physics of the Dayside Magnetosphere: New Results From a Hybrid Kinetic CodeWe use a global hybrid code kinetic model to demonstrate how kinetic processes at the bow shock and within the foreshock can dramatically modify the solar wind just before its interaction with the magnetosphere. During periods of steady radial interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation, the foreshock fills with a diffuse population of suprathermal ions. The ions generate cavities marked by enhanced temperatures, depressed densities, and diminished magnetic field strengths that convect antisunward into the bow shock with the solar wind flow. Tangential discontinuities marked by inward-pointing electric fields and normals transverse to the Sun-Earth line generate hot flow anomalies marked by hot tenuous plasmas bounded by outward propagating shocks. When the motional electric field in the magnetosheath points inward towards the Earth, a solitary bow shock appears. For typical IMF orientations, the solitary shocks should appear at poorly sampled high latitudes, but for strongly northward or southward IMF orientations the solitary shocks should appear on the flanks of the magnetosphere. Although quasi-perpendicular, solitary shocks should be marked by turbulent magnetosheath flows, often directed towards the Sun-Earth line, and abrupt spike-like enhancements in the density and magnetic field strength at the shock. Finally,we show how flux transfer events generated between parallel subsolar reconnection lines are destroyed upon encountering the magnetopause at latitudes above the cusp.
Document ID
20080030277
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Siebeck, D. G.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Omidi, N.
(Solana Scientific, Inc. Solana Beach, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
July 30, 2007
Subject Category
Optics
Meeting Information
Meeting: Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 2007 4th Annual Meeting
Location: Bangkok
Country: Thailand
Start Date: July 30, 2007
End Date: August 4, 2007
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available