|
Plasma "Fingerprints" at the Magnetopause by Michael O. Chandler 05 October 2001 The magnetopause is a region of competition between two influences - the solar wind and its embedded magnetic field on one side and the geomagnetic field and its attached plasmas on the other. The processes that occur at this interface modify and mix the plasmas from the two regions leaving telltale signatures in their velocity distributions. What can these "fingerprints" tell us about the region and the physical processes that control it? Using ion observations from the Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment along with magnetic field measurements from the Magnetic Field Experiment (both on the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Program Polar spacecraft) we are able to address these questions - an important step to understanding the Sun-Earth connection.
|
