ISEE‐1 and ‐2 observations of laminar bow shocks: Velocity and thickness
- 1 October 1982
- journal article
- Published by American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Geophysical Research Letters
- Vol. 9 (10) , 1171-1174
- https://doi.org/10.1029/gl009i010p01171
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.This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
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