Abstract
Based on the three-dimensional compressible resistive MHD models, the Earth’s dipole magnetic field is employed to investigate IMF By penetration driven by the solar wind during southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) with uniform resistivity. It is found that the magnetic field By is built up in the central plasma sheet of the Earth’s magnetotail. When θ = 30° (where BIMFy = BIMF sin θ), the magnetic field By in the plasma sheet is the strongest and even larger than the initial imposed BIMFy. In addition, BIMFy promotes the reconnection process of dayside magnetopause. With a further increase in θ, the reconnection rate of dayside magnetopause and the magnetic field By decrease, and the structure changes significantly. The results can be used to analyze the observed data of IMF By penetration.
Highlights
Magnetic reconnection1 is often cited as an efficient mechanism for many eruptive physical phenomena, such as solar coronal mass ejection and Earth’s magnetospheric substorms
A current sheet is formed at the dayside magnetopause when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is opposite in direction to Earth’s adjacent dipole field
The y-component of magnetic field By carried by the solar wind begins to gather near the magnetopause, and its value has already reached three times the initial BIMFy
Summary
Magnetic reconnection is often cited as an efficient mechanism for many eruptive physical phenomena, such as solar coronal mass ejection and Earth’s magnetospheric substorms. Data from the ISEE-3 spacecraft identified that under non-zero IMF By conditions, there is a strong bending of the magnetotail’s magnetic field lines The direction of this bending matched the orientation of the IMF By component. Wing et al. used the five years’ observational data of GOES-6 and GOES-7 to connect the y-component of the geostationary magnetic field with the IMF By and found that 29% and 79% of the IMF By strength entered into the Earth’s magnetosphere at noon and midnight, respectively. A 3D global MHD code is used to study the global picture and the mechanism of solar wind interaction with the Earth’s magnetosphere, in particular the effect of the y-component of the IMF BIMFy during southward IMF.
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