The dawn-dusk asymmetry of the magnetosheath: INTERBALL-1 observations Original Research Article

Early studies of plasma flow in the magnetosheath concentrate on the agreement between observations and gasdynamic theory. Recently published results of the IMP 8 data analyze different time periods of observations but due to the IMP 8 orbit, the study covers the region from X = −15 to X = −30 RE. We have used four years of INTERBALL-1 magnetosheath measurements in order to check these results in a more subsolar region, i.e., from X = 0 to X = −20 R0 and for slightly different time period. We are analyzing the radial profile of the ion flux and its temporal and spatial evolution as well as the changes of the profile with upstream conditions. The study is complemented with a similar analysis of the behaviour of the magnetosheath magnetic field strength. The comparison of ion flux and magnetic field profiles shows that the magnetosheath waves can be an important factor influencing a formation of the magnetosheath.