EFFECT OF NEUTRAL SHEET CURRENTS ON SHAPE AND MAGNETIC FIELD OF MAGNETOSPHERE TAIL

This paper describes a modification of the usual first order theory of the shape of the magnetosphere boundary that incorporates in a simple way the principal effects of the electrical currents in the neutral sheet of the extended geomagnetic tail. Numerical results presented for a variety of representative cases show that an additional flaring out of the magnetosphere tail ultimately of the order of a few Earth radii occurs over a distance of several tens of Earth radii, and that there is an associated decrease in the intensity of the magnetic field because of the need to approximately conserve the total magnetic flux in each half of the tail cross-section. Comparisons with data obtained in space with Explorer 18 and 33 satellites and Pioneer 6 and 7 spacecraft show that this modification of the theory leads to a substantial improvement in the agreement between the calculated and observed dimensions of the magnetosphere tail and the strength of the magnetic field contained therein. © 1969.