Kiel 2004 – scientific programme
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EP: Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 9: Poster-2
EP 9.10: Poster
Tuesday, March 9, 2004, 17:45–19:30, Foyer
CLUSTER MULTIPOINT INVESTIGATION OF THE SMALL SCALE MAGNETOPAUSE STRUCTURES — •Evgeny Panov1,2, J. Buechner2, P. Daly1, K.H. Glassmeier3, A. Korth1, M. Franz1, B. Nikutovski1, S. Savin2, and L.M. Zelenyi2 — 1Max Planck Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Katlenburg-Lindau — 2Space Research Institute of RAS, Moscow — 3Technische Universit, Braunschweig
The penetration of Solar wind plasma and particles through the Earth magnetopause is a crucial problem in the attempt to understand solar-terrestrial links and space weather phenomena. Since it occurs through a thin plasma boundary, tangential or rotational discontinuity, the MHD approach fails to describe the penetration mechanism. For understanding the microphysics of penetration a high resolution and spatio-temporal distinction of the main physical parameters is necessary, which can be predicted by the CLUSTER mission. In our study of the small scale magnetopause structure we use CLUSTER s/c multipoint in-situ measurements. Magnetic field and particle observations allow to determine the thickness and motion of the magnetopause applying the discontinuity analyzer technique [Dunlop and A. Balogh, 2002]. We concentrate on eight especially appropriate high- and mid-latitude magnetopause crossings. As a result we found typical small-scale magnetopause properties which now should be used as a starting point for consistent theoretical studies and numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection and/or percolation through the magnetopause.