Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 30, 2025

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Magnetopause Reconnection and Indents Induced by Foreshock Turbulence
Li-Jen Chen1, Jonathan Ng1,2, Yuri Omelchenko3,4
1NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA.
Abstract:
Based on global hybrid simulation results, we predict that foreshock turbulence can reach the magnetopause and lead to reconnection as well as Earth-sized indents. Both the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind are constant in our simulation, and hence, all dynamics are generated by foreshock instabilities. The IMF in the simulation is mostly Sun-Earth aligned with a weak northward and zero dawn-dusk component, such that subsolar magnetopause reconnection is not expected without foreshock turbulence modifying the magnetosheath fields. We show a reconnection example to illustrate that the turbulence can create large magnetic shear angles across the magnetopause to induce local bursty reconnection. Magnetopause reconnection and indents developed from the impact of foreshock turbulence can potentially contribute to dayside loss of planetary plasmas.
Related Concept Videos
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions
Potential Due to a Magnetized Object
The vector...
Induction
A...
Magnetic Fields
A magnetic field is defined by the force that a charged particle experiences...
Magnetic Field Lines
Magnetic field lines follow several hard-and-fast rules:
Magnetic Field due to Moving Charges
Consider a point charge moving with a constant velocity. Like the electric field, the magnetic field at any point is directly proportional to the magnitude of the charge and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the source point and the field point. However, unlike the electric field, the magnetic field is always perpendicular to the plane containing the line...

