Energy conversion at the terrestrial bow shock
Abstract
At Earth's bow shock, the supersonic solar wind is slowed down and deflected around the magnetosphere. To many this is "just a bow shock", a simple and quite passive element of solar-terrestrial physics. However, it has recently been realized that the bow shock plays a significantly more important role with currents on the bow shock connecting through the magnetosheath to the magnetospheric current systems. The bow shock current cannot close locally, since the magnetic field compression in the magnetosheath cannot be maintained globally. The bow shock current is inevitably a generator current extracting mechanical energy from the supersonic solar wind, and feeding it to other processes such as acceleration of the magnetosheath flow, local particle acceleration at the bow shock and dissipation in the distant ionosphere. Here we use data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to investigate the generator properties of the terrestrial bow shock for various upstream conditions. A better understanding of the energy conversion properties of the terrestrial bow shock will also be useful also for the understanding of other astrophysical shock currents. The currents must close somewhere and deposit energy somewhere.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMSM21C3171H
- Keywords:
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- 7835 Magnetic reconnection;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS;
- 7845 Particle acceleration;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS;
- 7863 Turbulence;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS;
- 7867 Wave/particle interactions;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS