Global expansion of the dayside magnetopause for long‐duration radial IMF events: Statistical study on GOES observations

Abstract

AbstractFor decades, unusual locations of the magnetopause under radial interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) have been reported in many studies using in situ satellite observations. These studies have shown that the magnetopause is expanded either over all magnetic local times (MLTs) on the dayside (global expansion) or just near the noon (bullet‐like expansion) during radial IMF conditions. With limited observations near the magnetopause, the type of the magnetopause expansion is still undetermined. In this study, 19 years of dayside geosynchronous magnetic field data obtained from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are statistically processed to infer the shape of the dayside magnetopause under radial IMF conditions. The MLT distributions of geosynchronous magnetic fields for radial IMF are compared with those for northward IMF with the correction of solar wind dynamic pressure distributions between two different IMF conditions. After removal of the solar wind dynamic pressure effect, we have found that the geosynchronous magnetic field for radial IMF is smaller than that for northward IMF over almost all MLTs on the dayside regardless of magnetic latitudes and seasons. The difference between geosynchronous magnetic fields for the northward and radial IMFs supports the suggestion that the dayside magnetopause is globally expanded during the radial IMF conditions.