Articles | Volume 12, issue 10/11
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-994-1022-3
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-994-1022-3
31 Aug 1994
31 Aug 1994

The transformation of magnetoacoustic waves into Alfvén waves inside the magnetosphere

A. E. Kozlovsky, V. V. Safargaleev, and W. B. Lyatsky

Abstract. A mechanism for the transformation of a magnetoacoustic wave into an Alfvén wave is proposed. During the compression of the magnetosphere by the solar wind the inner edge of the plasma sheet and the contours of B=const move in different ways. In the case of asymmetrical compression, the contours of B=const will cross the inner edge of the plasma sheet. To close the drift currents - that flow in the plasma sheet along the contours of B=const - the appearance of the field-aligned currents is necessary. This appearance corresponds to the generation of the Alfvén wave.