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Generation of traveling convection vortices and field‐aligned currents in the magnetosphere by response to an interplanetary tangential discontinuity
Author(s) -
Chen G. X.,
Lin Y.,
Cable S.
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1029/2000gl003807
Subject(s) - magnetosheath , magnetosphere , physics , magnetopause , geophysics , interplanetary magnetic field , convection , vortex , magnetohydrodynamics , solar wind , shock wave , bow shock (aerodynamics) , interplanetary spaceflight , mechanics , computational physics , plasma , quantum mechanics
Three‐dimensional global magnetohydrodynamic simulations are conducted to study the response of the magnetosheath and the magnetosphere to an interplanetary tangential discontinuity (TD), across which the plasma density increases. A fast mode wave and a transmitted TD are generated in the magnetosheath by the interaction between the interplanetary TD and the bow shock. These waves further propagate and disturb the dayside magnetosphere. The fast mode compressional wave propagates downstream out of the dayside region in about 1 minute. The pressure enhancement associated with the transmitted TD later compresses the magnetopause significantly for several minutes. The generation of traveling convection vortices, shear Alfvén waves, and the associated field‐aligned currents (FACs) in the dayside magnetosphere by these pressure pulses is identified in the simulation.