Shock models and location in Earth's foreshock
- Models for the 3-D shape and location of Earth's bow shock are
important for determining
a spacecraft's location in the foreshock and so the properties of
electron beams, Langmuir waves, and radio emissions as a function of
foreshock location and solar wind conditions. Accordingly we
analyzed crossings of Earth's bow shock observed by the
Wind, Geotail, IMP-8, and Interball spacecraft under conditions
of low solar wind Alfven Mach number, finding relatively poor agreement
with existing models and placing strong constraints on future models
[Fairfield et al., 2001].
- We analyzed and interpreted 3-D global MHD
simulations of the magnetopause's interaction with the solar wind, resulting
in new 3-D models for the location of Earth's bow shock as functions of the
solar wind parameters [Chapman and Cairns, 2002].
