JOURNAL OF GEOPI-IYSICALRESEARCH VOLUME 67, No.

10 SEPTEMBER 1962

The Interaction between the Solar Wind

and the Earth's Magnetosphere
W. I. AXFORD

Theoretical Studies Group

Defence ResearchBoard, Ottawa, Canada

Abstract. It is argued in this note that the interplanetary gas ca• usefully be treated as a
continuum as far as the interaction between the solar wind and the terrestrial magnestosphereis
concerned.On this basis, since the solar wind is highly supersonicnear the earth, a collision-
free bow shock wave should be a permanent feature of iaterplanetary space on the sunward
side of the magnetosphere.Other features of the solar wind flow pattern and the shape of the
magnetosphereare also considered,and it is suggestedthat certain ionospheric phenomena are
the direct result of linkage to the exterior surface of the magnetospherevia geomagneticliaes
of force.

A number of authors have made calculations However,despiteits weakness, the interplanetary

that are intended to provide someidea of the magneticfieldhasthe importanteffectof causing
shape of the earth's magnetosphereres•fiting the solar wind to behave as a continuous fluid
from the interaction between the solar wind and over length scalesthat are large comparedwith
the geomagneticfield [Ferraro, 1960; Dungey, the proton Larmor radiusR•. For a proton of
1961; Midgley and Davis, 1962; Slutz, 1962; energyI key in a magneticfield of 5 y, and in a
Hurley, 1961a, b; Beard, 1960, 1962; Spreiter frame of reference in which the electric field
and Briggs, 1962]. These tend to confirmquMi- vanishes,R• _< 900 km, whichis smallcompared
tative argumentswhich suggestthat the mag- with a typical dimensionof the magnetosphere
netosphere is shaped rather like a teardrop, (--•105 km). Thus it seemsthat we should treat
having a 'taft' extending in the downstreazn the interaction between the solar wind and the
direction (e.g., Piddington [1960b], Johnson, magnetosphere in terms of continuum flow
[1960]). The purposeof this note is to point out rather than free molecular flow as assumed in
that the value of suchcalculationsis limited by the calculationsmentionedabove.(Readerswho
the neglectof certain effectsthat in themselves are not familiar with high speedflow phenomena
may result in interestingobservablephenomena. may find it useful to refer to a standard text on
It is probablethat the interplanetary magnetic aerodynamics suchasthat of HayesandProbstein
field is generally not strong enough to have [1959].)
direct dynamic effects,sincethe energy density The problemof determiningthe shapeof the
of the field seems to be much smaller than total magnetosphere becomesextremelydifficultif we
energy density of the solar wind. (If H is the do not know the flow field producedin the solar
magnetic field, U the speed of the solar wind, wind, and thus we can only proceedby qualita-
n the number density of protons, and m, the tive arguments. A few simple solutions are
massof a proton, then known for the flow of a perfectly conducting,
inviscid, incompressiblefluid past sources of
4•rnm•U2/H2 -----70 magneticfield (seeBusemann[1959]); the most
during quiet conditionswith H = 5 •y [Coleman, interestingof these are two-dimensionalprob-
Davis, and Sonett,1960; Sonett,Judge, Sims, and lemsinvolvingflow past a line current [Cole and
Kelso, 1960] n - 10 cm-3, and U - 300 km sec-1 Huth, 1959], whichresultsin an ellipticcavity,
[Parker, 1961]. Occasionally during magnetic and flow past a dipole,which resultsin a circu-
storms the field strength reaches as much as lar cavity undersuitableconditions[Kulikovskii,
50 y [Coleman,Sonett,and Davis, 1961] but at 1957]. In fact we are dealing with a three-
such times the density and speed of the solar dimensionalproblem in which dissipationis im-
wind must also increase by a large factor.) portant and the incident flow (i.e. the solar
3791
3792 W.I. AXFORD

wind) is highly supersonic,sothat the usefulnests WAVE

of these solutions is limited. It is nevertheless
clear that the magnetospheremust be confined
to a finite cavity, and we believe that it has a
teardrop shape similar to that obtained in the SOLA•
free molecular analysis.
We can make the rather obvious deduction
WIND
about the fio.wpattern without further ado that
a standing shock wave must exist in the inter-
planetary medium a short distanceupstream of
the magnetosphere,as sketched in Figure 1. (a)
(This suggestion has also been made inde- -SONIC SURFACE
pendently by Zhigtdev [1959], Kellogg [1962]
and Gold [1962].) The shockwave is necessarily SONIC SURFACE
of the collision-freetype relying on nonlinea.r
interactions of waves to produce the required
randomization of particle mot.ions [Fishman,
Kantrowitz, and Petschek,1960]. From a satel-
lite, therefore, the shock structure (which may
be a few proton Larmor radii wide) and the re- WIND
gion downstream sho.u!dappear to be highly
turbulent.. At the shock and near S the flow
changesfrom supersonicto subsonicand the gas
(b)
densityand magneticfield strengthare increased
SHOCK WAVE
by a factor that may be as much as 4, depend-
ing on the circumstances.We suggestthen that Fig. 1. Diagrammatic sections of the magneto-
the magnetic 'boundary' observedat a disi.ance sphere (a) in the plane of the geomagnetic axis
and in the solar wind direction, and (b) in the
of 13-14 earth radii (Re) during the flights of geomagnetic equatorial plane looking from abo,ve
Pio.neers1 and 5 [Sonerr et at., 1960; Sonerr, the north pole. The geomagnetic tail is indicated
1960] was simply the shockwave, and not the by shading, and the senseof rotation of the mag-
terminatio.nof the geomagneticfield as has been netosphere by short arrows. The lines o.utside the
magnetosphere represent the stream lines of the
suggested.This appears to be confirmedby the solar wind, and the bow shock wave is shown on
sudden disappearance beyond 14.4Re of the the upstream side of the magnetosphere.The flow
fluctuating counting rate of energeticelectrons behind the shock wave becomes supersonic as' it
observed during the flight of Pioneer 4 [Van passesthrough a sonic surface, which is roughly in
the position indicated by the lightly dotted lines.
Allen and Frank, 1959; Van Allen, 1959]; the
electronsare presumedto have been energized
in turbulent electric fields existing behind the accelerated,eventually becominghighly super-
shock. soniconce more, most of the energy appearing
Behind the shock and near the forward stag- in the fo.rm of directedmotion of protonsaway
nation point (0) of the magnetospherethe from the sun. This picture is consistentwith
energy of the solar wind particles is almost en- observationsfrom Explorer 12 (NASA News
tirely in the form of random thermal motions, Release 62-16) near the forward stagnation
and the bulk velocity is very low. Thus in this point and from Explorer10 [Bridgeet al., 1961]
region we should expect to find protons with well downstreamon the flank of the magneto-
energiesof the o.rder of 1 key and no obviously sphere. At great distancesfrom the sun-earth
preferred direction of motion. However, as the axis the shock wave is attenuated and barely
gas flows away from the stagnation point it deflectsthe solar wind particles from siraight-
accelerates, and energy is transferred from line paths; here we expect to find the energy
thermal to directed motion. A sonic surface is residingalmost entirely in the coherentrect]-
reached in the position roughly indicated in linear motion of pro,tons.
Figure 1, and thereafter the fio.w is further The gaspressure(p) in the compressed solar
 SOLAR WIND AND THE EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE 3793

stream near the forward stagnation point has solar wind there are other difficulties that make
the value po -- nmpU', which differs from the
a calculationof the shapeof the magnetosphere
value obtained for free molecular flow by a
practically impossible;namely, the surface is
factor 2. Using the image dipole approximation,
likely to sufferfrom a form of Helmholtz insia-
[Dungey, 1958, pp. 138-140] the boundaryof
bility [Dungey, 1955; Parker, 1958; Ax[ord,
the magnetosphere is found to be at a distance
1962] which in turn can lead to important trans-
of about
verse (viscous-like) stresses(cf. Ax[ord and
Ro/R,= H,•/s/(2•rn m•U•)•/• (1) Hines [1961], Piddington [1960a]). However,
we believethat the topologyof the geomagnetic
where He -- 0.32 gaussis the magnetic field
field is essentiallythe same as that of the fiat-
strengthat the geomagnetic equator.(With the
faced Chapman-Fcrraro model [Dungey, 1958,
values quoted above for n and U, it is found
pp. 138-140; Chapman and Ferraro, 1931]. In
that Ro - 10.2Re.) There are inaccuraciesin
particular, all field lines on the surface o.f the
this result, becausethe surfaceis not fiat and
magnetosphererun between two neutral points
also because the condition that mus• hold at
(N•, N,) as indicated in Figure 2. The •eutral
the surfaceis that (p + H•/8•) shouldbe con-
points are connected by field lines to points
tinuous; we have neglectedthe enhancedinter-
(M•, M,) that lie on the noon geomagnetic
planetary magnetic field near the stagnation
meridian at rather high latitudes on the earth's
point aswell asthe effectof gaspressure within surface. All field lines that lie near the surface
the magnetosphere. The las• effectis essentially
of the magnetosphereo.ver some part o.f their
that of the ring current, which causesthe mag-
length meet the surfaceof the earth in crescent-
netosphere to swell,and resultsin rather larger
shapedzones (Z•, Z,) surroundingM• and M,
values o•f Ro than would be given by (1).
(see Figure 3).
Coincidentally,the pressuredistributio.non
If the surface of the magnetosphereis un-
the surfaceof a body near the stagnationpoint
stable, and therefore turbulent, characterisiic
has the sameform for incompressiblecontinuum
effects should be observable in Z• and Z,. In
flow as for free molecular flow. Thus there is
particular, we might expect to find a high level
somejustificationfor using free molecularfio.w
of occurrenceof geomagneticfluctuationsand o.f
solutions to obtain the shape of the mag-
irregularities of ionizatio,n density, the irregu-
netosphere, especiallyon the upstreamside (cf.
larities being due to incident electronsthat have
Zhigulev and Romishevskii [1960], Sakurai
been accelerated to suprathermal energies in
[1959]), althoughthereis little reasonto believe the random electric fields associated with the
that suchsolutionsreproducethe detailedgeom-
turbulence. If the solar wind is a permanent
etry with any great accuracy. The magneto-
feature of interplanetary space, these features
sphereis thereforeprobably s•milar in shapeto
should be present even when the general level
the free molecular solution given, for examp,le,
of mag•neticactivity is low (as estimated from,
by Spreiter and Briggs [1962], except that,
well away from the stagnationpoint wherethe
thermal pressureof the solargasbecomessmall,
the interplanetarymagneticfield may have a
significanteffect in preventing the tail from
e•tending indefinitely far downstream.
It is difficult to make an accurate estimate of
the 's•and-off'distance(OS) of the shockahead
of •he forward s•agnafionpoint, as •his depends
on the shapeof •he magnetosphere[Hayes and
Probstein,1959, p. 158], and i• may also be
affectedby •he enhancedmagneticpressurein Fig. 2. A sketched elevatio,n of the magneto-
sphere showing the distribution of surface lines of
•he s•and-offregion.However, i• would no• be force (solid lines) and of surface current (dashed
unreasonableto expect Rs • 13-14R• with lines). Note that the lines of force on the down-
R0 • 10R•. stream side are roughly in the sun-earth direction
Apart from the unknownflow field o,f the except near the equatorial plane.
3794 W.I. AXFORD
provide a meansof determiningwhether or not
the surfaceof the magnetosphere is stable; this
is a questionof somesignificanceIDeaslet,1961;
Colemanand Sonett, 1961]. If the boundary is
unstable and the interpretation of ionospheric
phenomenagiven here is correct, it should be
possibleto detect enhancedfluctuationsof the
magnetic field and incoming soft particles in
these regions.
It is usual to define the geomagnetictail as
that part of the magnetospherethat does not
•/.-...--•\ \ rotate bodily with the earth, but instead re-
4.-o000 volves by 'twiddling' about its own axis
[Dungey, 1958, p. 68; Johnson,1960]. This is
Zn-• '¾•.•.•.70= //
60 ø
indicatedby the shadingin Figure 1, where it
can be seen that the neutral points actually
1800
decidewherethe divisiontakes place. (The pos-
sible effects due to noncoincidence of the earth's
Fig. 3. The link betweendistantregionsof the magnetic and rotational axeshave not been con-
magnetosphere and the ionosphere.Top: lines of sidered.) We can obtain an estimate of the ex-
force passingthrough the shadedarea of the
equatorialsectionof the magnetospheremeet the tent of the geomagnetictail by finding the
earth in zones (Z•, Z,) surrounding(M•, M,) on area that the total magneticflux emergingfrom
the sunward side. Bottom: a sketch of Z• with geo- the polar cap above 70ø geomagneticlatitude
magneticlatitude and times roughlyindicated. occupiesif spread uniformly at an intensity
rather larger than that expectedfor the inter-
say, the planetaryK index).In fact there is planetary field (say 30 7)- Taking the average
evidencethat geomagnetic fluctuationsof the width of the magnetosphereas 20R• we find
expected type do occurduringquietperiodsin that the tail may extend to about 60Re, or
the polarregionson the day sideof the earth roughly to the orbit of the moon.
at a geomagneticlatitude of about 80ø According to our description,the magneto-
[Fukushima,1961; Bobroy,1960].The actual sphere is a highly asymmetrical object, co.n-
geomagnetic latitudeof M, andM, is expected trasting with the symmetrical cavities found
to decreasewith increasingstorminess,and it when the external stream is subsonic and .all
seemslikely that the latitude during active forms of dissipationare ignored. One causeof
periods is aslowas70ø. Thisvalueis consistent this asymmetry is the viscous-likecomponent
with a deductionfrom the theory of Axiord of the surface interaction which is clearly irre-
and Hines [1961] whichsuggests that the night versible and may to a large extent determine
spiral of maximum disturbanceshouldpass the positionof N• and N,. In addition,the solar
through the magnetic midnight meridian at stream is supersonicand producesan irreversi-
about the same latitude as M, and M,. The oc- ble (entropy-increasing)feature in the form of
currenceof continuousmicropulsations or Pc's the bow shockwave, which would result in an
[Karo, 1961; Jacobsand Sinno,1960] and of asymmetry even if other dissipative processes
diffuseradio auroras [Forsyth, Green,and Mah, were absent.
1960] in regionssimilarto Z•, Z, is consistent Finally, we note that Rayleigh-Taylor insta-
with the idea that they are the direct result bility ('fluting') may occur at the commence-
of turbulenceat the boundary of the magneto- ment of magnetic storms owing to the sudden
sphere.Thereis alsoa distinctnoonmaximum compressionof the upstream face of the mag-
of occurrence of low altitude ionosonde echoes netospherewhenit is struckby the storm shock
at Narssarssuak, Greenland(geomagnetic lati- wave. Neglectingthe effectof the interplanetary
tude 71ø) [Olesen and Wright, 1961]. It is magnetic field, the conditionfor instability is
suggestedthat observations
from a satellitein
a polarorbit that passes
overZ• andZ, would H'/47rR< nm•,! (2)
 SOLAR WIND AND THE EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE 3795

where R is the radius of curvature of the surface Axford, W. I., and C. O. Bines, A unifying
field lines (positive if the lines are convex to theory of high-latitude geophysical phenomena
and geomagneticstorms,Can. J. Phys., $9, 1433-
the impingingplasma) and • is the acceleration 1464, 1961.
of the surface (positive if directed from the Beard, D. B., The interaction of the terrestrial
plasmato the field). Taking • --U•/L, where U magnetic field with the solar corpuscularradia-
is the speedo.f the enhancedsolar wind and L tion, J. Geophys.Research,65, 3559-3568,1960.
Beard, D. B., The interaction of the terrestrial
is the net changein Ro due to the compression, magnetic field with the solar corpuscularradia-
we find that instability occurswhen n is greater tion, 2, Secondorder approximation,J. Geophys.
than about I cm-• if H -- 100 7, R -- 10R,, Research, 67, 477-483, 1962.
L -- 3R,, and U ---- 1000 km scc-Ln should Bobroy, M. S., Types of irregular geomagnetic
disturbances and the mechanisms of interaction
refer only to the density excessof protons out- of a solar stream with the outer atmosphere,
side over thoseinside the magnetosphere, those Soviet Astron. A J, 4, 392-404, 1960.
inside constituting the low-energy 'whistler' Bridge, H. S., C. Dilworth, A. J. Lazarus, E. F.
medium.The number density outsidethe mag- Lyon, and B. Rossi, Direct observationsof the
netosphereis likely to be of the order of 40 near interplanetary plasma, International Conference
on Cosmic Rays and the Earth Storm, Kyoto,
O, and this may well exceedthe numberdensity Japan, 1961.
inside.Thus it seemsthat the instability can be Brown, R. R., T. R. Hartz, B. Landmark, H. Lein-
expected to occur in associationwith sudden bach, and J. Ortner, Large-scaleelectron bom-
commencements of geomagnetic storms,with the bardment of the atmosphere at the sudden com-
mencement of a geomagneticstorm, J. Geophys.
consequentgenerationof intenseturbulenceon Research, 66, 1035-1041,1961.
the upstreamsurfaceof the magnetosphere. At Busemann, A., The Magnetohydrodynamics of
such times solar plasma will penetrate directly Conducting Fluids, edited by D. Bershader,
into the geomagneticfield, and some genera- Stanford University Press,Stanford, Calif., 1959.
Chapman, S., and V. C. A. Ferraro, A new theory
tion of suprathermalparticlesmay take place. of geomagneticstorms,Terrest. Magnetism and
It wasthoughtoriginallythat Rayleigh-Taylor Atmospheric Elec., $6, 171-186, 1931.
instability could produce the phenomenonof Cole, J. D., and J. H. Huth, Some interior prob-
suddencommencement absorption[Matsushita, lems of hydromagnetics,Phys. Fluids, 2, 624-
626, 1959.
1961; Brown et al., 1961]; however there are
Coleman, P. J., L. Davis, and C. P. Sonerr,Steady
alternative explanations.For example, if the componentof the interplanetary magnetic field,
storm shockwave on passingthroughthe outer Pioneer 5, Phys. Rev. Letters, 5, 43-46, 1960.
regionsof the magnetosphereremains strong Coleman,P. J., and C. P. Sonerr,Note on hydro-
enoughto kink the field linesappreciably,it will magnetic propagation and geomagnetic field
stability, J. Geophys. Research 66, 3591-3592,
scattertrapped electronsinto the losscone.The 1961.
shock may even cause the electronsto be re- Coleman,P. J., C. P. Sonerr,and L. Davis, On the
flected so that they gain energy by the Fermi interplanetary magnetic storm, Pioneer 5, J.
process and are driven down into the iono- Geophys. Research, 66, 2043-2046, 1961.
Dessler, A. J., The stability of the interface be-
sphere.There the electronsproduceX rays and tween the solar wind and the geomagneticfield,
(by their diamagneticeffect) may causepre- J. Geophys. Research, 66, 3587-3590, 1961.
sudden commencement field reversals in a man- Dungey, J. W., Electrodynamicso• the Outer
ner similar to that suggestedby Singer [1957]. Atmosphere,Proc. IonosphereCon•., The Physi-
The absorptionshouldof coursebe accompanied cal Society of London, 229-236, 1955.
Dungey, J. W., Cosmic Electrodynamics, Cam-
by enhancedsporadicE and radio aurora,and, bridge University Press, Cambridge, 1958.
if this explanationis correct,there shouldbe a I)ungey, J. W., The steadystate of the Chapman-
rapid movementof thesephenomenafrom about Ferraro problem in two dimensions,J. Geophys.
70ø to about 60ø geomagneticlatitude on the Research, 66, 1043-1047, 1961.
Ferraro, V. C. A., An approximah•method of es-
sunwardside of the earth during the period o.f timating the size and shape of the stationary
a minute or so required for the shockwave to hollow carved out in a neutral ionized stream
arrive at the earth. of corpusclesimpingingon the geomagneticfield,
J. Geophys. Research, 65, 3951-3953, 1960.
I•EFERENCES Fishman, F. J., A. R. Kantrowitz, and tt. E.
Axford, W. I., Note on a problem of magnetohy- Petschek,Magnetohydrodynamicshockwave in
drodynamic stability, Can. Y. Phys., in press, a collision-free plasma, Revs. Mod. Phys., 32,
1962. 959-966, 1960.
3796 W.I. AXFORD
Forsyth, P. A., F. D. Green, and W. Mah, The Parker, E. N., Stellar wind regions,Astrophys,J.,
distribution of radio-aurora in central Canada, 134, 20-27, 1961.
Can. J. Phys, 38, 770-778, 1960. Piddington,J. I-I., A theory of polar geomagnetic
Fukushima, N., Morphology of magnetic storms, storms, Geophys. J., $, 314-332, 1960a.
International Conference on Cosmic Rays and Piddington, J. I-I., Geomagneticstorm theory, J.
the Earth Storm, Kyoto, Japan, 1961. Geophys. Research, 65, 93-106, 1960b.
Gold, T., Magnetic storms,Cornell UniversityRe- Sakurai, T., Two-dimensionalhypersonicflow of
port CRSR 115, 1962. an ideal gas with infinite electric conductivity
I-Iayes,W. D., and R. F. Probstein,Hypersonic past a two-dimensionalmagneticdipole,J. Aero-
Flow Theory, Academic Press, New York, 1959. space Sci., 26, 841-842, 1959.
Hurley, J. D., Interaction of a streamingplasma Singer, S. F., A new model of geomagneticsto.rms
with magnetic field of a line current, Phys. and aurorae, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 23,
Fluids, 4, 109-111, 1961a. 175-190, 1957.
I-Iurley, J. D., Interactionbetweenthe solarwind Slutz, 1•. J., The shape of the geomagneticfield
and the geomagneticfield, New York University
boundary under uniform external pressure, J.
College of Engineering Rept., 1961b.
Geophys. Research, 67, 505-514, 1962.
Jacobs,J. A., and K. Sinno.,Occurrencefrequency
of geomagneticmicropulsations, Pc, J. Geophys. Sonett, C. P., Coupling of the solar wind and
Research, 65, 107-113, 1960. exosphere,Phys. Rev. Letters, 5, 46-48, 1960.
Johnson,F. S., The gross character of the geo- Sonett, C. P., D. L. Judge, A. R. Sims,,and J. M.
magneticfield in the solarwind, J. Geophys.Re- Kelso, A radial rocket survey of the distant geo-
search, 65, 3049-3052, 1960. magnetic field, J. Geophys.Research,65, 55-68,
1960.
Karo, Y., Geomagneticpulsationsand hydromag-
netic oscillationsof the exosphere,International Spreiter, J. R., and B. 1•. Briggs, Theoretical de-
Conference on Cosmic Rays and the Earth termination o.f the form of the boundary of the
Sto.rm, Kyoto, Japan, 1961. solar corpuscular stream produced by interac-
Kellogg, P. J., paper delivered at U.R.S.I. meet- tion with the magnetic dipole of the earth, J.
ing, Washington, 1962. Geophys. Research, 67, 37-52, 1962.
Kulikovskii, A. G., On the fio.wof a conducting Van Allen, J. A., The geomagneticallytrapped
fluid round magnetized bodies, Doklady Akad. corpuscular radiation, J. Geophys.Research,64,
Nauk. SSSR, 117, 199-202, 1957. 1683-1689, 1959.
Matsushita, S., Increase of ionization associated Van Allen, J. A., and L. A. Frank, Radiation meas-
with geomagnetic sudden commencements,J. urements to 658,300 km with Pioneer 4, Nature,
Geophys. Research, 66, 3958-3961, 1961. 184, 219-224, 1959.
Midgley, J. E., and L. Davis, Computationof Zhigulev, V. N., On the phenomenonof magnetic
the bounding surface of a dipole field in a detachment of the flow of a conducting medium,
plasmaby a moment technique,J. Geophys.Re- Soviet Phys. Doklady, 4, 514-516, 1959.
search, 67, 499-504, 1962. Zhigulev, V. N., and E. A. I•omishevskii, Concern-
Olesen,J. K., and J. W. Wright, The relationship ing the interaction of currents flowing in a con-
of low-height ionosondeechoesto auroral-zone ducting medium with the earth's magneticfield,
absorptionand VItF D scatter,J. Geophys.Re- Soviet Phys. Doklady, 4, 859-862, 1960.
search, 66, 1127-1134, 1961.
Parker, E. N., Interaction of the solar wind with
the geomagneticfield, Phys. Fluids, 1, 171-187, (Manuscript receivcd May 14, 1962; revised
1958. June 15, 1962.)