We reconcile the superficially contradictory theories of flow immediately upstream of the subsolar magnetopause. We show that the formation of a layer of enhanced field and depressed density immediately adjacent to the magnetopause as predicted by Zwan and Wolf appears to require the presence upstream of a region of enhanced pressure and field rarefaction as predicted by Southwood and Kivelson. We thus argue that the detached regions of enhanced density and the depletion layer adjacent to the magnetopause are actually manifestations of a single phenomenon. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995