Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agufmsm13b1314l&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #SM13B-1314
Physics
2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions (2431), 2760 Plasma Convection (2463), 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
Convection in the ionosphere and magnetosphere is driven by solar wind energy, which powers the generation of a large-scale electric field that produces plasma motion. It is generally believed that there are two mechanisms by which solar wind energy generates convection: reconnection and a viscous interaction at the magnetopause. In this paper we propose that a third, fundamentally distinct mode of imposing convection on the magnetosphere and ionosphere exists. Current must flow across the bow shock as determined by the jump conditions, and the bow shock current represents a dynamo. The bow shock current closes in part through the ionosphere, which is a load. Thus it is possible to generate an ionospheric potential that is neither a product of reconnection nor of mechanical transport of energy across the magnetopause. The current-driven potential is imposed directly on the ionosphere by field-aligned currents that connect to the bow shock and which are driven by the work done on the solar wind as it crosses the bow shock.
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