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Wind observations of the terrestrial bow shock: 3-D shape and motion

Earth, Planets and Space volume 53, pages 1001–1009 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Between late 1994 and early 2001 the Wind orbiter, generally targeted to stay in the solar wind, passed through the Earth’s magnetosphere ∼50 times. About 450 distinct bow shock crossings were collected during the inbound and outbound bracketing each Wind perigee. These crossings and corresponding vectorial upstream solar wind measurements by the Wind MFI and SWE instruments are used to study the 3-D shape of the bow shock and its motion. Mapping of bow shock crossings to the Sun-Earth line and to the terminator plane is realized using a recent analytical model of the planetary bow shock. The asymmetry of the terrestrial bow shock in the terminator plane is studied as a function of Friedrichs diagram anisotropy. Analysis of the subsolar bow shock position as a function of Alfvenic Mach number M a during intervals of magnetic field aligned solar wind flow shows that the shock tends to approach the Earth when M a is decreasing, while for non field-aligned flows bow shock moves from the planet.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya, 84/32, Moscow, 117810, Russia

    M. Verigin & G. Kotova

  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA

    A. Szabo & J. Slavin

  3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2143, USA

    T. Gombosi

  4. University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G 2J1, Canada

    K. Kabin

  5. Physical Faculty, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119899, Russia

    F. Shugaev & A. Kalinchenko

Authors
  1. M. Verigin
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  2. G. Kotova
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  3. A. Szabo
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  4. J. Slavin
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  5. T. Gombosi
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  6. K. Kabin
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  7. F. Shugaev
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  8. A. Kalinchenko
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Correspondence to M. Verigin.

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Verigin, M., Kotova, G., Szabo, A. et al. Wind observations of the terrestrial bow shock: 3-D shape and motion. Earth Planet Sp 53, 1001–1009 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351697

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351697

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