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ISEE‐1 and ‐2 observations of laminar bow shocks: Velocity and thickness

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TLDR
In this paper, the thickness and velocity of the quasi-perpendicular laminar bow shock were determined for conditions where the Mach number and beta numbers are low and the magnetic field is at large angles to the shock normal.
Abstract
Thirteen bow shock crossings observed by ISEE-1 and -2 have been used to determine the thickness and velocity of the quasi-perpendicular laminar bow shock, i.e., those for which the Mach number and beta are low and the magnetic field is at large angles to the shock normal. The shock velocity ranges from a few kilometers per second to over 100 km/sec for these events. The shock thickness is found to be close to an ion inertial length, about 100 km for the conditions studied herein. In contrast to supercritical shocks, there is approximate equipartition of thermal energy between ions and electrons behind these shocks. Finally, there is a weak correlation between shock thickness and the angle between the interplanetary magnetic field and the shock normal, with more perpendicular shocks being thinner.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Evolution of ion distributions across the nearly perpendicular bow shock: Specularly and non‐specularly reflected‐gyrating ions

TL;DR: The ion density decreases by up to two orders of magnitude at the forward end of the foot of the bow shock profile, suggesting that the ions are reflected by the shock specularly, and may enhance downstream ion thermalization.
Journal ArticleDOI

Ion and electron heating at collisionless shocks near the critical Mach number

TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the observed heating is not due to reflected ions but rather to physical processes characteristic of subcritical shocks, and it is pointed out that the shocks examined are all very near the theoretical one-fluid critical Mach number.
Journal ArticleDOI

The structure of oblique subcritical bow shocks: ISEE 1 and 2 observations

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used ISEE 1 and 2 spacecraft magnetic field data to determine the scale lengths of various elements of shock structure, as well as wavelengths and wave polarizations, in a study of structural elements which include shock ramps and precursor wave trains over a series of oblique, low Mach number terrestrial bow shocks.
Journal ArticleDOI

Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP): A New NASA Mission

David J. McComas, +59 more
TL;DR: The IMAP spacecraft is a simple sun-pointed spinner in orbit about the Sun-Earth L1 point as discussed by the authors, and it provides detailed observations of solar wind electrons and ions; suprathermal, pickup, and energetic ions; and the interplanetary magnetic field.
Journal ArticleDOI

Density-Transition Scale at Quasiperpendicular Collisionless Shocks

TL;DR: Measurements of a spacecraft floating potential are used as a proxy for electron plasma density to study, for the first time, the macroscopic density transition scale at 98 crossings of the quasiperpendicular terrestrial bow shock.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Longitudinal Ion Oscillations in a Hot Plasma

Burton D. Fried, +1 more
- 01 Jan 1961 - 
TL;DR: In this article, a Vlasov equation description of the plasma is used to explore the properties of longitudinal waves in a hot plasma, including electron and ion plasma oscillations, which are not likely to be observable due to their strongly damped properties.
Journal ArticleDOI

The ISEE 1 and 2 Fluxgate Magnetometers

TL;DR: The ISEE 1 and 2 spacecraft have 12-bit analog-to-digital conversion plus averaging to return 16-bit overlapped averages with a particularly attractive transfer function.
Journal ArticleDOI

Discontinuities in the solar wind

TL;DR: In this paper, the existence of a field of MHD discontinuities in the solar wind should make possible the generation of ensembles of shocks and contact surfaces, which can be treated as shock wave or contact surface.
Journal ArticleDOI

OGO-A magnetic field observations

TL;DR: Magnetic field observations by OGO-A, with profiles of bow shock and magnetopause encounters as mentioned in this paper, were used to study the magnetic field of the bow shock. But the results were limited.
Journal ArticleDOI

ISEE-1 and ISEE-2 Fast Plasma Experiment and the ISEE-1 Solar Wind Experiment

TL;DR: Identical fast plasma experiment (FPE) systems were placed on the ISEE-1 and IsEE-2 spacecraft to measure solar-wind ions with high resolution.
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