Shock and discontinuity associated periodicities in the solar wind and magnetosphere
Abstract
Solar wind shocks and discontinuities are often cited as sources of broadband compressional power that couple to magnetospheric eigenmodes. Some recent event studies have indicated that the post-shock solar wind sometimes contains discrete periodicities in the number density. These periodicities lasted 10s of minutes to hours and matched oscillations observed in the magnetosphere that otherwise may have been attributed to global cavity modes. In addition, it has been shown recently that the ambient solar wind contains intervals with significant power at multiple discrete frequencies, and that these density variations drive multiple, discrete magnetospheric oscillations. We present the results of a statistical analysis of solar wind shocks and discontinuities and seek answers to the following questions: 1) How often and under what conditions are number density periodicities observed following shocks and discontinuities? 2) To what degree are the periodicities 'discrete' vs random? 3) Are the shock-associated periodicities related somehow to the multiple, discrete periodicities observed in the ambient solar wind?
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AGUFMSH31A0378K
- Keywords:
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- 2109 Discontinuities (7811);
- 2139 Interplanetary shocks;
- 2700 MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS (6939);
- 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics;
- 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions