Deceleration of the solar wind in the Earth's foreshock region: Isee 2 and Imp 8 observations

Journal Article · Fri Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 1980 · J. Geophys. Res.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA085iA11p06031· OSTI ID:6746037

Bonifazi, C; Moreno, G; Lazarus, A J; Sullivan, J D

The deceleration of the solar wind, in the region of the interplanetary space filled by ions backstreaming from the earth's bow shock and associated using a tow-spacecraft technique. This deceleration which is correlated with the 'diffuse' but not with the 'reflected' in population, depends on the solar wind bulk velocity: at low velocities (below 300 km/s) the velocity decrease is approx.5 km/s, while at higher velocities (above 400 km/s) the decrease may be as large as 30 km/s. Along with this deceleration the solar wind undergoes a deflection by approx.1/sup 0/ away from the direction of the earth's bow shock. The energy balance shows that the kinetic energy loss far exceeds the thermal energy which is possibly gained by the solar wind; therefore at least part of this energy must go into waves and/or into the backstreaming ions.

• Research Organization: Instituto Plasma Spazio, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Frascati, Italy
• OSTI ID: 6746037
• Journal Information: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States) Vol. 85:A11; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640104* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Solar Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCELERATION
BACKSCATTERING
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ENERGY
ENERGY LOSSES
INTERPLANETARY SPACE
KINETIC ENERGY
LOSSES
MAGNETOSPHERE
PLASMA ACCELERATION
RADIATION STREAMING
SCATTERING
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR WIND
SPACE