The bowshock and magnetopause

Abstract

Results achieved in magnetopause and the bow-shock research during the years 1983-1986 are discussed. The review on bow-shock phenomenona includes work done on the terrestrial bow shock, interplanetary shocks, and bow shocks of other planets, describing research on macroscopic aspects of shocks as well as on the microphysics of quasi-perpendicular and quasi-parallel shocks. In the area of magnetopause research, global aspects of the boundary are first examined. Next, the issues of reconnection and energy transfer through the magnetopause, including viscous and surface-wave phenomena, are considered. Finally, flux-transfer events are discussed in terms of their characteristic magnetic signatures, energetic-particle anisotropies, and distribution with IMF orientations.