Interplanetary structure penetrating the terrestrial bow shock detected by multiple spacecraft
Abstract
Interplanetary magnetic field enhancements (IFEs) have been proposed to be formed in the interaction between the solar wind and clouds of charged dust released in collisions. In 2011, an IFE was detected by five spacecraft simultaneously and the reconstructed magnetic field geometry supported the dust-solar wind interaction hypothesis. On 16 January 2018, another IFE was observed by eight spacecraft in the solar wind and later by four spacecraft in the magnetosheath, far exceeding the number of detections on any previous event. This time, the post-shock magnetic field geometry differed from that in the solar wind. A possible explanation is that unlike the protons of the solar wind, dust traveling at the solar wind speed does not slow down upon crossing the bow shock because of its large gyroradius, resulting in a relative velocity between the two flows different from that in the solar wind. This observation provides a complete scenario of dust clouds from riding in the solar wind to impacting the Earth's magnetosphere.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMSM51C3190L
- Keywords:
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- 2139 Interplanetary shocks;
- INTERPLANETARY PHYSICS;
- 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS;
- 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS;
- 7811 Discontinuities;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS