HR: 1330h
AN: SM52B-0589    [PDF]
TI: What are the causes of the formation of the sub-Alfv‚nic flows at the high latitude magnetopause?
AU: * Avanov, L A
EM: Levon.Avanov@msfc.nasa.gov
AF: NSSTC/MSFC/NASA, 320 Sparkman DR, Huntsville, AL 35805 United States
AU: * Avanov, L A
EM: Levon.Avanov@msfc.nasa.gov
AF: Space Research Institute (IKI), 84/32 Profsoyuznaya Str, Moscow, 117997 Russian Federation
AU: Chandler, M O
EM: Michael.Chandler@msfc.nasa.gov
AF: NSSTC/MSFC/NASA, 320 Sparkman DR, Huntsville, AL 35805 United States
AU: Smirnov, V N
EM: vsm@plasma.rssi.ru
AF: Space Research Institute (IKI), 84/32 Profsoyuznaya Str, Moscow, 117997 Russian Federation
AU: Vaisberg, O L
EM: olegv@iki.rssi.ru
AF: Space Research Institute (IKI), 84/32 Profsoyuznaya Str, Moscow, 117997 Russian Federation
AB: We study magnetopause crossings made by the Interball Tail spacecraft at high latitudes under various interplanetary conditions. When the IMF is mostly northward the Interball Tail observes quasi steady state reconnection signatures at the high latitude magnetopause, which include a well-defined de Hoffman-Teller frame, satisfaction of stress balance (Walen relations) and D-shaped ion velocity distributions. Under variable or southward IMF the high latitude magnetopause is a tangentional discontinuity. However, in certain conditions, just after the magnetopause crossing, irrespective of the IMF orientation, decelerated magnetosheath flows are observed in the magnetosheath region adjacent to the high latitude magnetopause. This leads to formation of the region where the sub-Alfv‚nic flow at high latitudes exists. We suggest that in some cases the dipole tilt plays an important role in the formation of the sub-Alfv‚nic flows, although in some cases formation of the depletion layer is responsible for observation of the sub-Alfv‚nic flows at the high latitude magnetopause.
DE: 2724 Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers
DE: 2728 Magnetosheath
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting