Note on the location of the stagnation point in the magnetosheath flow

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1981 · Geophys. Res. Lett.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/GL008i009p00984· OSTI ID:5872988

Russell, C T; Zhuang, H; Walker, R J; Crooker, N U

Observational and theoretical investigations indicate that the shape of the magnetosphere is nearly symmetric about the plane defined by the aberrated solar wind velocity and the earth's magnetic dipole axis. Nevertheless, many phenomena such as magnetic pulsations and geomagnetic activity seem to indicate that the effective solar wind arrival direction is perhaps 15/sup 0/ to the dawn side of noon. This apparent paradox may have a simple resolution since it can be shown that the location of the stagnation point in the magnetosheath flow is shifted towards dawn by MHD effects not included in the simple gasdynamic model of the solar wind interaction. The shape of the magnetosphere is little affected by the inclusion of these MHD effects. However, the size of the stagnation point shift is very sensitive to the Alfven Mach number and can only account for the largest reported shifts (approx.15/sup 0/) at low Mach numbers (< or approx. =3.5).

• Research Organization: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024
• OSTI ID: 5872988
• Journal Information: Geophys. Res. Lett.; (United States), Vol. 8:9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
MAGNETOSHEATH
STAGNATION
INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC FLUX
MAGNETOSPHERE
PLASMA DRIFT
SOLAR WIND
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
640203* - Atmospheric Physics- Magnetospheric Phenomena- (-1987)