Structure of the magnetopause - Observations and implications for reconnection

Details Structure of the magnetopause - Observations and implications for reconnection Structure of the magnetopause - Observations and implications for reconnection

May 1979

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1979ssrv...23..427f&link_type=abstract

(COSPAR, IAU, IUGG, IUPAP, and URSI, International Symposium on Solar Terrestrial Physics, Innsbruck, Austria, May 29-June 3, 19

Physics

3

Atmospheric Physics, Geomagnetism, Lines Of Force, Magnetopause, Geomagnetic Tail, Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, Magnetic Field Configurations, Magnetosheath, Polar Regions, Thickness

Scientific paper

The earth's magnetopause is the boundary between a hot tenuous plasma in the magnetosphere and a cooler denser plasma in the magnetosheath. Both of these plasmas contain magnetic fields whose directions are usually different but whose magnitudes are often comparable. Efforts to understand the structure of the magnetosphere have been hampered by the variability and complexity of this boundary. Waves on the magnetopause surface propagate toward the magnetotail and produce the multiple boundary crossings frequently seen by spacecraft. Boundary velocities are poorly known and range anywhere within an order of magnitude of 10 km/s. Typical thicknesses are probably of the order of a few hundred km, which is a few times the gyroradius of a thermal proton. Although conclusive direct evidence for a field component, Bn, across the magnetopause has not been found; this lack of evidence may reflect the difficulty in determining Bn in the presence of magnetopause waves rather than the real absence of this component. Considerable indirect evidence exists for an open magnetosphere, but the importance of the reconnection process thought to produce open field lines has recently been questioned.

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