3D MHD Description and Animation of the Process of Collision of a Solar Wind Shock with the Earth’s Bow Shock

Abstract

At present, several groups of spacecraft in the vicinity of the Earth’s bow shock S _b , magnetosheath, and outer magnetosphere and spacecraft located in the free solar wind stream near the Lagrange point L ₁ are measuring the magnetosphere and solar wind parameters and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The data obtained on the Earth are analyzed to forecast the cosmic weather, in particular, to identify sharp changes in the solar wind associated with shock waves [1, 2]. For interpreting adequately spacecraft’s measurements it is necessary to have exact solutions of the problem of interaction between a solar wind discontinuity and the bow shock in which the wave flow pattern is known as a function of coordinates of a point on S _b .