A sub-Alfvenic solar wind - Interplanetary and magnetosheath observations

Abstract

During much of an approximately 5-hour period on November 22, 1979, plasma and field instruments on ISEE 3 measured a solar wind flow that was simultaneously supersonic and sub-Alfvenic (about 320 km/s) due to an abnormally low ion density (about 0.07 per cu cm). The nature of the disturbed flow adjacent to the magnetosphere is examined. This examination suggests that the earth's bow wave retained its shock-like character when the solar wind flow was sub-Alfvenic.