Plasma Properties in the Earth's Magnetosheath Near the Subsolar Magnetopause: Implications for Geocoronal Density Estimates

Fuselier, Stephen A.; Petrinec, S. M.; Trattner, Karlheinz J.; LLera, Kristie; Burch, James L.; Gershman, D. J.; Dayeh, Maher A.; Schwadron, Nathan; Funsten III, Herbert O.; McComas, David J.

doi:10.1029/2023GL105553

Plasma Properties in the Earth's Magnetosheath Near the Subsolar Magnetopause: Implications for Geocoronal Density Estimates

Journal Article · Thu Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105553· OSTI ID:2584690

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; LLera, Kristie ^[4]; ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[6]; ^[7]; ^[8]; ^[9]

Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio TX (United States); Univ. of Texas at San Antonio, TX (United States)
Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, CA (United States)
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO (United States)
Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (United States)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (United States); Univ. of Texas at San Antonio, TX (United States)
Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

Combined in situ ion measurements and remote sensing of energetic neutral atoms are used to determine the geocoronal Hydrogen density at large (∼10 R_E) distances from the Earth. This method for determining the geocoronal density requires global magnetospheric modeling. Observations in the Earth's subsolar magnetosheath from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission are used to determine the accuracy of using global models to predict the geocoronal density. On average, gas dynamic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models and observations are in reasonable agreement, with differences <25%. In addition, the MHD model subsolar magnetopause is about 0.5 R_E sunward of the observed location. However, variations around averages are large (up to a factor of 2), indicating that global models introduce relatively large uncertainties in geocoronal density estimates. Finally, the critical ion flux in the Interstellar Boundary Explorer IBEX‐Hi energy range is often minimally affected by fluctuations of a factor of 2 in the density.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 2584690

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--23-33065; 10.1029/2023GL105553; 1944-8007

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 50; ISSN 1944-8007; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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