The configuration of dayside merging

Abstract

The development of the geometry of interplanetary magnetic field lines of force merging with geomagnetic field lines at the dayside magnetopause is traced from Dungey's picture of merging at the subsolar point to a three-dimensional picture in which merging occurs along curved lines that emanate from the polar cusps. The new merging configuration is shown to be consistent with recent observations of flux transfer at the dayside magnetopause and of convection patterns at high-latitudes. In terms of a bimodal model of the magnetosphere incorporating the new merging configuration, it is estimated from observations that the contributions to convection from merging and viscous interaction are about equal. Theoretical constraints on the merging process are traced from the requirement of antiparallel fields, to various dependences of the merging rate upon the angle between the merging fields, to no dependence at all. The new merging configuration assumes the antiparallel orientation. It is suggested that some instability threshold acts to prevent merging that otherwise might occur continually for all other orientations.