MHD effects in the Venus magnetosheath Original Research Article

We study features of flow around Venus using a numerical algorithm to integrate the dissipationless magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, which includes from the start magnetic forces on the flow. We show first that, contrary to previous estimates based on gas dynamics, for a reasonable Alfvén Mach number the MHD-modelled subsolar magnetosheath is nearly as thick as that obtained from observations. Concentrating next on the region off the subsolar line we present model results for the variation of all plasma and field parameters along paths normal to the ionopause for different values of the solar zenith angle.