The far magnetotail response to an interplanetary shock arrival

Abstract

We present a study of the impact of the December 7, 2003 fast forward interplanetary (IP) shock on the distant tail of the Earth׳s magnetosphere. Using the data from the several spacecraft located in the solar wind/magnetosheath upstream to the Earth, we monitor a propagation of the IP shock from the L1 point to the magnetosphere. A behavior of the far magnetotail is inferred from the Wind observations at XGSM≈−230RE. Shortly after the shock arrival, Wind crossed consequentially southern and northern lobes and observed a flux rope and the tailward fast plasma flow (≈780km/s) within the plasmasheet. Moreover, a change of the solar wind VZ component across the shock creates a huge kink of the tail magnetosphere that propagates down the tail with the IP shock.