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Interplanetary Discontinuities and Shocks in the Earth’s Magnetosheath

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Book cover Multiscale Processes in the Earth’s Magnetosphere: From Interball to Cluster

Part of the book series: NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry ((NAII,volume 178))

Abstract

The study of the propagation of interplanetary disturbances, shocks and discontinuities, through the magnetosheath is critical to improve our understanding of the Sun-Earth connected system. In this paper, the current status of both theoretical and observational studies in this crucial area is reviewed separately for interplanetary shocks and discontinuities. It is suggested that tangential and rotational discontinuities suffer significant geometrical distortions traveling between the Earth’s bow shock and magnetopause. On the other hand, the pressure fronts of the transmitted interplanetary shocks most likely remain unaltered promising the possibility of improved space weather forecasting accuracies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA

    Adam Szabo

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  1. Adam Szabo
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  1. Centre ďEtude Spatiale des Rayonnements Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France

    Jean-André Sauvaud

  2. Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Zdeněk Němeček

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Szabo, A. (2005). Interplanetary Discontinuities and Shocks in the Earth’s Magnetosheath. In: Sauvaud, JA., Němeček, Z. (eds) Multiscale Processes in the Earth’s Magnetosphere: From Interball to Cluster. NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, vol 178. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2768-0_4

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