The Bow Shock Current System

Abstract:

As the solar wind crosses the bow shock, it is compressed and heated. The compression produces a magnetic shear across the bow shock, thus a current flows along the shock. This current must be closed through currents that flow through the magnetosheath and connect to magnetopause boundary currents and Birkeland currents that close in the ionosphere. In this paper I will examine the dynamical role of this current system in solar wind-magnetopshere coupling.