Premium
Modeling of the magnetosphere
Author(s) -
Stern David P.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg025i003p00523
Subject(s) - magnetohydrodynamics , magnetosphere , physics , hydrostatic equilibrium , computational physics , momentum (technical analysis) , simple (philosophy) , magnetic field , conservation law , classical mechanics , field (mathematics) , statistical physics , quantum electrodynamics , mechanics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , philosophy , finance , epistemology , pure mathematics , economics
Magnetospheric modeling is the art of deriving the configuration of the magnetosphere and representing its behavior. Two main levels exist: descriptive modeling which tries to represent the observed magnetic field B and perhaps the electric field E , and physical modeling which also includes plasma effects. Descriptive modeling must only satisfy Maxwell's equations, in particular ∇ · B = 0; physical modeling adds density ρ, pressure p etc. and must also satisfy conservation laws of magneto‐hydrodynamics (MHD). Discussed below are descriptive models and simple physical ones, up to the level of the magneto‐hydrostatic (MHS) approximation; full MHD simulations are covered in a companion report. In the MHS approximation the MHD momentum balance condition reduces to ∇p = j × B