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Time History of the Magnetospheric Cavity
Author(s) -
Osborne F. J. F.,
Bachynski M. P.,
Gore J. V.,
Gore J. V.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1002/rds196614419
Subject(s) - physics , mercury's magnetic field , magnetosphere , solar wind , plasma , magnetic field , geophysics , interplanetary magnetic field , excitation , breakup , field line , asymmetry , computational physics , dipole , dipole model of the earth's magnetic field , polar , field (mathematics) , astronomy , mechanics , mathematics , pure mathematics , quantum mechanics
Scale model laboratory experiments simulating the effect of the solar wind on the magnetosphere have shown the time history of the formation and breakup of the magnetospheric cavity. Time‐resolved (1 µsec) data on the visible “standoff” interaction show that the “quasi‐Van Allen belts” first become visible well within the cavity at the time the plasma wind encounters the fringing terrella field. The belts at this time show a definite structure with “ribbons” of plasma along the field lines. This structure is probably associated with oscillatory phenomena present in the belts and their excitation mechanism. The polar views show considerable asymmetry of both the internal and external phenomena throughout the interaction. The visual asymmetries indicate that the plasma in the tail of the dipole magnetic field “wags” as the interaction builds up and decays. Magnetic field measurements in the equatorial plane show a similar motion of the magnetic field in the tail.