The Level of Turbulence in the Solar Wind and the Driving of the Earth's Magnetosphere

Details The Level of Turbulence in the Solar Wind and the Driving of the Earth's Magnetosphere The Level of Turbulence in the Solar Wind and the Driving of the Earth's Magnetosphere

May 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sm51b01b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SM51B-01

Physics

2149 Mhd Waves And Turbulence, 2728 Magnetosheath, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 7831 Laboratory Studies, 7863 Turbulence

Scientific paper

Times when the level of magnetic-field fluctuations in the solar wind are very small (IMF calm) are compared with "normal" times (IMF noisy). Using ISEE-3 and ISEE-2 data, for a given value of solar-wind vBz, it is found that the auroral electrojet indices AE, AU, and AL and the planetary index KP are substantial reduced in magnitude when the IMF is calm. This is particularly true for times when the IMF Bz is northward. An analogy is explored between the solar-wind-driven magnetosphere and laboratory fluid-flow experiments in which the drag on an obstacle in the flow and the structure of the fluid wake behind the obstacle are varied by injecting turbulence of various amplitudes in the upstream fluid. The laboratory results are explained with the concept that turbulent eddy viscosity, which is a function of the turbulence amplitude, controls the coupling of the fluid to the obstacle. This eddy-viscosity-coupling concept is explored for the solar-wind driving the magnetosphere via the magnetosheath. A clue as to why SMCs (steady magnetospheric convection events) occur may be uncovered.

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