The location of the Earth's bow shock

Abstract

The Earth's bow shock is an integral part of the Sun–Earth connection, as it helps to slow and deflect the solar wind around the Earth's magnetosphere. Its location and shape is determined not only by the properties of the incident solar wind, but also in a self-consistent manner with the location and shape of the magnetosphere. Its existence is also a cause of significant wave activity and particle acceleration in the near-Earth environment. In this work we will review the history of the scientific efforts undertaken to understand the physics governing the location of the Earth's bow shock. We describe the early works of Spreiter (for whom this paper is a tribute) and others, which provided a solid foundation for our present understanding. More recent empirical, theoretical, and computational efforts that have served to improve our understanding of the physics of the bow shock location will also be discussed.