Model of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:7251168

Toffoletto, F R

A quantitative model of a magnetically interconnected (open) magnetosphere is developed. The model is based on the perturbation of a closed magnetic-field configuration with a given magnetopause geometry. The internal field is the result of a dipole field confined by Chapman-Ferraro currents at the magnetopause and stretched on the nightside to produce a tail field. The external field is taken from a model based on gas-dynamic supersonic flow around a blunt object with an embedded magnetic field. The normal component at the magnetopause must be time-independent and is derived from two different hypotheses of magnetopause merging. The interconnection field is derived as a solution to a Neumann boundary-value problem consisting of Laplace's equation with the magnetopause-normal component distribution as a boundary condition. This interconnection field is then added to the closed models to produce the desired open configuration. The resulting open magnetospheric configuration is used to map magnetopause electric fields down to the ionosphere in the polar cap, thus producing electrostatic-potential contours. Various distributions result as a function of the IMF orientation and of the merging hypothesis.

• Research Organization: Rice Univ., Houston, TX (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7251168
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
BOUNDARY-VALUE PROBLEMS
CHAPMAN-FERRARO PROBLEM
COUPLING
CURRENTS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
EQUATIONS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
LAPLACE EQUATION
MAGNETOPAUSE
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR WIND