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On the “bowl‐shaped” deformation of planetary equatorial current sheets
Author(s) -
Tsyganenko N. A.,
Andreeva V. A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl059295
Subject(s) - magnetosphere , current sheet , geophysics , physics , tilt (camera) , mercury's magnetic field , saturn , solar wind , magnetosphere of saturn , dipole , magnetic dipole , magnetopause , asymmetry , planet , polar , deformation (meteorology) , magnetic field , geology , interplanetary magnetic field , astronomy , magnetohydrodynamics , geometry , meteorology , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Arridge et al. (2008) reported evidence for the formation of a “bowl‐shaped” equatorial current disk in Saturn's magnetosphere during epochs with large planetary dipole tilt angle from perpendicularity with the Sun‐planet axis. Using a large multiyear set of Geotail, Polar, and Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions spacecraft data and a simple model of the magnetic field reversal surface, we found that a similar kind of the tilt‐related magnetic field deformation is present in the Earth's magnetosphere. Based on the properties of a tilted vacuum magnetic field configuration, we conclude that the bowl‐shaped distortion is a universal feature of magnetospheres with a tilted planetary dipole, resulting from the joint effect of the north‐south asymmetry due to the tilt and of the day‐night asymmetry imposed by the solar wind flow.