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Janhunen & Koskinen 1997
Janhunen, P. and Koskinen, H.E.J. (1997). The closure of region-1 field-aligned current in MHD simulation. Geophysical Research Letters 24: doi: 10.1029/97GL01292. issn: 0094-8276.

We have studied the closure path of Region-1 field-aligned current system in our global MHD simulation and found some interesting results. After leaving the ionosphere on the eveningside the current deviates from the field-aligned direction rather early and bends towards the Sun. After passing through the velocity shear region near the magnetopause, which is a generator region, it climbs up along the magnetopause, being more or less field-aligned. Because of this it again bends sunward. When approaching the noon-midnight meridian plane (Y=0 plane in GSM coordinates), however, the current becomes more perpendicular to the magnetic field. It passes through the Y=0 plane at about X=2¿1, Z=11¿1. On the morningside the closure path is a mirror reflection of that on the evening side. Thus the closure path seems to reside more on the dayside than perhaps usually thought. We give a simple physical explanation for the dayside bending, which is based on the MHD pressure balance equation.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union

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Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Numerical modeling, Space Plasma Physics, Numerical simulation studies
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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