A study of the heat flux reversal region upstream from the earth's bow shock, using data from the OGO 5 electron spectrometer

Interplanetary data from the electron spectrometer experiment aboard the OGO 5 spacecraft were analyzed to understand the cause of non-monotonic spectral features at suprathermal energies. It was found that the source for these features has one terminus at the bow shock surface skirted by the interplanetary magnetic field and was located at the boundary between connecting and missing field geometries. The source region for non-monotonic spectral features was termed the heat flux reversal region (HFR). Plasma determined to be in the HFR was shown to have reduced magnetic field magnitude compared to data taken adjacent to the HFR. This plasma was also shown to have perpendicular electron pressure within the average range expected for the solar wind, even though plasma adjacent to the HFR differed considerably from this average range.