On the Origin of the Upstream Diffuse Ions: Case Studies from GEOTAIL Observations

T. Sugiyama, T. Terasawa, T. Mukai, Y. Saito, S. Machida, T. Yamamoto, S. Kokubun
1995 Journal of geomagnetism and geoelectricity  
GEOTAIL observation in the distant dusk upstream region showed the existence of the diffuse upstream ions (5-43 keV/q) when the interplanetary magnetic field was nearly radial and separated from the nearestmagnetopause by ?20-30 RE. Since even with the Bohm limit the perpendicular diffusion was not fast enough to transport the magnetospheric ions to the spacecraft, we conclude that these diffuse ions had a bow shock origin.
doi:10.5636/jgg.47.1141 fatcat:srbbpioedzdrrj3ioat4gypdzm