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A quantitative test of the self‐organization hypothesis of the magnetopause Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability as an inverse problem
Author(s) -
Miura Akira
Publication year - 1999
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 - 10.1029/1998gl900300
Subject(s) - magnetopause , magnetosheath , physics , instability , magnetohydrodynamics , geophysics , magnetohydrodynamic drive , oscillation (cell signaling) , mechanics , magnetosphere , classical mechanics , magnetic field , quantum mechanics , biology , genetics
The self‐organization hypothesis of the magnetopause Kelvin‐Helmholtz (K‐H) instability is tested against observations by two‐dimensional (2‐D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations for two different initial seed perturbations. The linear relationships are obtained by the simulations between the period of the magnetopause oscillation caused by the K‐H instability and the distance along the magnetopause from the subsolar point. The comparison of the linear relationships with that obtained from reported observations of the magnetopause oscillations gives a reasonable thickness of the velocity shear layer near the subsolar point of 1570km‐3010km and a reasonable average magnetosheath flow speed along the magnetopause of 399km/sec‐766km/sec. This suggests that the self‐organization of the magnetopause K‐H instability, i.e., the successive pairings of vortices, really occurs along the magnetopause. The present comparison provides a useful method to determine the thickness of the velocity shear layer near the subsolar point as an inverse problem.