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Shape and position of Earth’s bow shock near-lunar orbit based on ARTEMIS data

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Abstract

Earth’s bow shock is the result of interaction between the supersonic solar wind and Earth’s magnetopause. However, data limitations mean the model of the shape and position of the bow shock are based largely on near-Earth satellite data. The model of the bow shock in the distant magnetotail and other factors that affect the bow shock, such as the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B y , remain unclear. Here, based on the bow shock crossings of ARTEMIS from January 2011 to January 2015, new coefficients of the tail-flaring angle α of the Chao model (one of the most accurate models currently available) were obtained by fitting data from the middle-distance magnetotail (near-lunar orbit, geocentric distance -20R E>X>-50R E). In addition, the effects of the IMF B y on the flaring angle α were analyzed. Our results showed that: (1) the new fitting coefficients of the Chao model in the middle-distance magnetotail are more consistent with the observed results; (2) the tail-flaring angle α of the bow shock increases as the absolute value of the IMF B y increases. Moreover, positive IMF B y has a greater effect than negative IMF B y on flaring angle. These results provide a reference for bow shock modeling that includes the IMF B y .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Space Science and Physics, Shandong University, Weihai, 264209, China

    Ji Liu, QuanQi Shi, AnMin Tian, Hao Wu, YuChen Yang & Jiang Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Ji Liu & YongYong Feng

  3. Institute of Space Weather, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    JianYong Lü & Ming Wang

  4. School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    SuiYan Fu, QiuGang Zong & ZuYin Pu

Authors
  1. Ji Liu
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  2. QuanQi Shi
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  3. AnMin Tian
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  4. JianYong Lü
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  5. Hao Wu
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  6. Ming Wang
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  7. SuiYan Fu
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  8. YuChen Yang
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  9. QiuGang Zong
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  10. Jiang Zhang
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  12. ZuYin Pu
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Correspondence to QuanQi Shi or AnMin Tian.

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Liu, J., Shi, Q., Tian, A. et al. Shape and position of Earth’s bow shock near-lunar orbit based on ARTEMIS data. Sci. China Earth Sci. 59, 1700–1706 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-016-5319-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-016-5319-3

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