Using Field Aligned Beams for Remote Sensing of the Local Structure at the Quasi- perpendicular Earth's Bow Shock

Details Using Field Aligned Beams for Remote Sensing of the Local Structure at the Quasi- perpendicular Earth's Bow Shock Using Field Aligned Beams for Remote Sensing of the Local Structure at the Quasi- perpendicular Earth's Bow Shock

May 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusmsm51a..09m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2008, abstract #SM51A-09

Physics

2154 Planetary Bow Shocks, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 2471 Plasma Waves And Instabilities (2772), 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

The overall structure of the quasi-perpendicular Earth's bow shock is controlled by ion reflection in the shock ramp and by the dynamics of the incoming solar wind. The so-called field aligned ion beams are a very prominent feature upstream of the (quasi-) perpendicular regime of the Earth's bow shock. The ion reflection and the formation of these beams are controlled by a number of parameters, including the angle between the upstream interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and the shock normal. Large scale surface waves due to dynamic pressure changes in the solar wind and shock ripples created by instabilities inside the shock ramp cause local variations of the shock normal angle. This in turn modulates the velocity and intensity of field-aligned ion beams. Conversely, these ion beams may be used for remote sensing of the local structure of the Earth's bow shock. Assuming direct reflection of field-aligned beams [Sonnerup, 1969] and performing a timing analysis of Cluster shock crossings, we have developed a model to deduce the local structure of the Earth's bow shock. The model uses a unique relationship between the velocity of field-aligned beams, the IMF direction and the solar wind's velocity. For our case studies, we have selected special time period with stable IMF and solar wind. Under these conditions, variations of the beam velocity are directly related to changes in the shock normal. If the resulting shock normal varies within a plane, thus the shock surface can be described by one dimensional plane wave. More complex out of plane variations of the shock normal require a description with 2D surface waves.

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