EGU21-9675
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9675
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

How radial and quasi radial IMF impact the Earth's magnetopause's size, location, and shape. Does this impact generate Dawn-Dusk asymmetry in the magnetosheath?: Global 3D Kinetic Simulations. 

Suleiman Baraka, Olivier Le Contel, Lotfi Ben-Jaffel, and Bill Moore
Suleiman Baraka et al.
  • National Institute of Aerospace, Calgary, Canada (suleiman.baraka@nianet.org)

The boundary between the solar wind (SW) and the Earth’s magnetosphere, named the magnetopause (MP), is highly dynamic. Its location and shape can vary as a function of different SW parameters such as density, velocity, and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientations. We employ a 3D kinetic Particle-In-Cell (IAPIC) code to simulate these effects.  We investigate the impact of radial (B = Bx) and quasi-radial (Bz < Bx, By) IMF on the shape and size of Earth’s MP for a dipole tilt of 31o using both maximum density steepening and pressure system balance methods for identifying the boundary. We find that, compared with northward or southward-dominant IMF conditions, the MP position expands asymmetrically by 8 to 22% under radial IMF. In addition, we construct the MP shape along the tilted magnetic equator and the OX axes showing that the expansion is asymmetric, not global, stronger on the MP flanks, and is sensitive to the ambient IMF. Finally, we investigate the contribution of SW backstreaming ions by the bow shock to the MP expansion, the temperature anisotropy in the magnetosheath, and a strong dawn-dusk asymmetry in MP location.

How to cite: Baraka, S., Le Contel, O., Ben-Jaffel, L., and Moore, B.: How radial and quasi radial IMF impact the Earth's magnetopause's size, location, and shape. Does this impact generate Dawn-Dusk asymmetry in the magnetosheath?: Global 3D Kinetic Simulations. , EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-9675, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9675, 2021.

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