Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sm32a03o&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SM32A-03
Physics
2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2744 Magnetotail, 2760 Plasma Convection, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection
Scientific paper
The magnetic field topology of the Earth's magnetosphere is critically controlled by solar wind parameters and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) via magnetic reconnection processes. Reconnection site and reconnection rate are mainly determined by the following two conditions: how well anti-parallel field condition is satisfied between the IMF and the terrestrial magnetic field, and how small the relative shear velocity is kept between the reconnection field lines. We have studied the magnetic field topology of magnetosphere and its dynamics by a 3-dimensional global MHD simulation of interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. We found that magnetic reconnection favorably occurs in anti-parallel field region with a slower shear velocity in the magnetosheath. For northward IMF the terrestrial magnetic fields are almost closed from the IMF because there is no anti-parallel field region. When the IMF has a y-component as well as a z-component, open field region appears in the polar cap. It is to be emphasized that the field line configuration of the magnetosphere differs much from the superimposed model of terrestrial magnetic field and a uniform IMF. This is because the magnetic field configuration is also determined by magnetospheric plasma convection as a result of nonlinear processes: based on the the plasma frozen-in assumption the magnetospheric plasma convection is associated with the movement of the merging field lines and the removal of the merging field lines results in a decrease in the magnetic pressure.
Cheng C. Z.
Ogino Takeshi
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