On the self-consistent determination of dayside magnetopause shape and position

A numerical procedure is developed for joint solution of models for dayside magnetosheath and dayside magnetosphere. It results in a modification of the numerical scheme for the transitional region behind the bow shock in a way, permitting self-consistent determination of the magnetopause as a detail of the solution. The choice of simple models allows comparissons with well-studied results in the literature for magnetosheath solutions with preliminary determined magnetopause. A new grid-characteristic gasdynamic numerical scheme is proposed for the simulation of the axially symmetric dayside magnetosheath for astrophysical tasks. The analytical model of the magnetosphere of Stern (Stern, J. Geophys. Res. 90, 10851, 1985) as well as Beardʹs approach (Beard, J. Geophys. Res. 65, 3559, 1960) for the inside magnetopause magnetic field are utilized in the numerical experiments. The results point out that the idea for combining solutions of two regional models is worthwhile, providing some specifications of the magnetopause shape and position even in the frame of the quite simple regional approaches used. Additional new details could be expected if more sophisticated regional models are applied.