HR: 0830h
AN: SM31B-1112    [PDF]
TI: Plasma Depletion Layer Dependence on Solar Wind Conditions and the Earth Dipole Tilt
AU: * Wang, Y
EM: ylwang@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, NIS-1, Mail Stop D466, Los Alamos, NM 87545
AU: Raeder, J
EM: J.Raeder@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center 245G Morse Hall 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824
AU: Russell, C T
EM: ctrussell@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: IGPP/UCLA, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567
AB: As a layer between the magnetosphere and the solar wind, the plasma depletion layer (PDL) is continuously affected by the ever changing solar wind conditions, as well as the resulting oscillations of the magnetopause to these variations. Some former studies have shown strong dependence of the PDL on solar wind conditions. Experimentally such a dependence study is very difficult because of the scarcity of observations. An alternate approach is to use models to investigate and document the dependence of the PDL on solar wind conditions. Such an approach would be similar to the one taken several decades ago by Spreiter et al. [1966] for the basic properties of the magnetosheath. We have previously shown [Wang et al., 2003] that the UCLA/NOAA global model is very well capable of reproducing the structure of the magnetosheath for two case studies. This result now gives us the confidence to attempt a study similar to Spreiter's description of the magnetosheath. With the introduction of MHD and a self-consistent model significantly more free parameters enter the problem compared to a study based on a gasdynamic model. At a minimum, the IMF strength and orientation need to be considered besides the gasdynamic parameters (mostly the solar wind Mach number). In this study, we first introduce the parameters for the model runs for this PDL dependence study. Then we will discuss some more detailed issues about the definition of the PDL boundary. After that, we will show the dependence of the PDL and the slow mode front on the solar wind Mach number, the IMF clock and tilt angles, and the Earth dipole tilt. Finally, we will summarize the results from this study.
DE: 2728 Magnetosheath
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2752 MHD waves and instabilities
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting