Solar Wind Coupling to the Magnetosphere: Analysis of IMP 8 Magnetosheath Observations

众所周知，太阳风与地球磁层有很强的耦合。人们往往没有意识到的是，这种耦合是通过磁鞘的中介实现的，磁鞘是由将超音速太阳风与地球分开的激波产生的。拟议的研究计划将检查过去20年的IMP-8数据，以产生磁鞘等离子体密度、速度和温度的数据集，然后将其与太阳风条件相关联。将生成地图来描绘不同太阳风条件下的等离子体地幔边界，最后将把观测结果与MHD模型进行比较。

It is well known that the solar wind is strongly coupled to the Earth's magnetosphere. What is often not appreciated is that this coupling is accomplished through the intermediary of the magnetosheath, which is generated by the shock that separates the supersonic solar wind from the Earth. The proposed research program will examine IMP-8 data from the past 20 years to produce a data set of magnetosheath plasma density, velocity and temperature which will then be correlated with the solar wind conditions. Maps will be generated to delineate the boundary of the plasma mantle for different solar wind conditions and finally comparisons will be made between the observations and MHD models.