Magnetic field draping against the dayside magnetopause

Technical Report · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

OSTI ID:6351289

Crooker, N U; Luhmann, J G; Russell, C T

Interplanetary magnetic fields observed upstream of Earth's magnetosphere at ISEE 3 form input for a gasdynamic model of magnetic field draping in the dayside magnetosheath. Model results near the magnetopause are compared with appropriately lagged observations at ISEE 1. In 16 to 24 cases, the angle between the transverse component of the model and observed fields is less than 20 deg. The agreement is surprisingly good in view of the uncertainty introduced by the large distances between ISEE 1 and ISEE 3. The results indicate that magnetohydrodynamic and energy transfer processes at the magnetopause do not cause large distortions of the magnetosheath magnetic field. In addition, a comparison between observed and model field magnitudes indicates that immediately outside the magnetopause the observed field behaves like the model field at a distance of approx. 0.5 R sub E from the magnetopause, outside the region where magnetohydrodynamic effects make the gasdynamic model inapplicable. Patterns of model magnetic field orientation at the magnetopause are presented for practical application.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Los Angeles (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6351289
• Report Number(s): N-84-26514
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640203* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Magnetospheric Phenomena-- (-1987)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COORDINATES
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOPAUSE
MAGNETOSPHERE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR WIND