Massive Multi‐Mission Statistical Study and Analytical Modeling of the Earth's Magnetopause: 4. On the Near‐Cusp Magnetopause Indentation. Issue 1 (19th January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nguyen, G.; Aunai, N.; Michotte de Welle, B.; Jeandet, A.; Lavraud, B.; Fontaine, D.
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 127:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-01-19
• Subjects: polar cusps -- magnetopause -- magnetosphere -- solar wind; Magnetospheric physics -- Periodicals; Space environment -- Periodicals; Cosmic physics -- Periodicals; Planets -- Atmospheres -- Periodicals; Heliosphere (Astrophysics) -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 523.01
• DOI: 10.1029/2021JA029776
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-9380

Abstract

Abstract: The shape and location of the magnetopause current sheet in the near‐cusp region is still a debated question. Over time, several observations led to contradictory conclusions regarding the presence of an indentation of the magnetopause in that region. As a result several empirical models consider the surface is indented in that region, while some others do not. To tackle this issue, we fit a total of 17, 230 magnetopause crossings to various indented and non‐indented analytical models. The results show that while all models describe the magnetopause position and shape equivalently far from the cusp region, the non‐indented version over‐estimate the radial position of the near‐cusp magnetopause. Among indented models, we show that the one designed from non‐linearmagneto hydrodynamic simulations fits well the near‐cusp magnetopause location, while the other underestimate its position probably because their design was possibly based on magnetopause crossing catalogs that contain cusp inner boundary crossings. Key Points: We compare the performances of several magnetopause models to investigate the near‐cusp magnetopause shape Previous models of the near‐cusp magnetopause indentation actually depicts the position of the cusp inner boundary We show that the actual magnetopause is indented and that the indentation is consistent with the one observed in non‐linearmagneto hydrodynamic simulations