Multi-Spacecraft Observations of Interplanetary Shocks

Abstract

Multi-spacecraft solar wind observations reveal that many interplanetary shocks deviate significantly from exact planarity on scale length of the magnetospheric cross section. A number of different IP shock observations with four spacecraft will be presented to demonstrate quantitatively the angular deviations between shock normals obtained from 4-spacecraft methods, using only the time and position information of shock observations but assuming a exactly planar geometry, and those obtained from a non-linear least squares fitting of the "Rankine-Hugoniot" conservation equations at each spacecraft. Moreover, the curvature of the shock fronts is strongly related to its driver, typically magnetic clouds. It will be demonstrated that small and slower moving magnetic clouds drive shocks with significantly more irregular surface geometries.