Cluster Observations of the Local Dynamics of the Quasi-parallel Bow Shock

H. Hietala , T. V. Laitinen , E. K. Kilpua , A. Vaivads , M. André , H. E. Koskinen , E. A. Lucek , H. Réme (1)

1 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements

The four Cluster spacecraft were flying very close to the nose of the magnetosphere on 17 March, 2007. The spacecraft crossed the magnetopause several times during a 3 hour period from 17:00 to 20:00 UT. Some of the outward crossings were followed by short bow shock crossings immediately afterwards. Consequently, the thickness of the magnetosheath between these successive crossings was observed to be very small, only about 1.4 Re. During the event, all four of the spacecraft returned magnetic field data (FGM), and two of them plasma data (CIS-HIA instruments). The purpose of our study is to investigate how the quasi-parallel bow shock was modified allowing it to be this close to the magnetopause. We are also using upstream data from the L1 point to investigate the properties of the solar wind.

Mots clés: 2154 Planetary bow shocks; 2164 Solar wind plasma; 2728 Magnetosheath; 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

H. Hietala, T. V. Laitinen, E. K. Kilpua, A. Vaivads, M. André, et al.. Cluster Observations of the Local Dynamics of the Quasi-parallel Bow Shock. American Geophysical Union, 2008, à renseigner, Unknown Region. ⟨insu-03601511⟩