[1] A re-scaling of a recent model of Jupiter's magnetosphere incorporating ring current, magnetopause, and tail current systems is used as a starting-point for modeling Saturn's magnetospheric field. The model is compared with observations obtained by Cassini during its Saturn orbit insertion fly-through of Saturn's magnetosphere, and is shown to give a good description. Comparison of ring current parameters obtained on the inbound and early outbound passes, when the magnetosphere was expanded due to low solar wind pressure, with those obtained by Voyager-1 under more usual conditions, and by Pioneer-11 when the magnetosphere was compressed, suggests that the ring current magnetic moment increases with system size. The effect is proposed to be due to radial stress balance conditions in a rapidly rotating magnetosphere, and has consequences for the dependence of magnetosphere size on solar wind pressure. Citation: Alexeev, I. I., V. V. Kalegaev,
[1] A new ''Paraboloidal'' model of Mercury's magnetospheric magnetic field based upon the earlier terrestrial model and using similar techniques is developed. The model describes the field of Mercury's dipole, which is considered to be offset from the planet's center; the magnetopause currents driven by the solar wind; and the tail current system including the cross-tail currents and their closure currents at the magnetopause. The effect of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is modeled as a partial penetration of the IMF into the magnetosphere. The goals of the present work are (1) to develop an easily usable, yet robust model of Mercury's magnetospheric magnetic field and (2) to produce an improved ''unified'' determination of Mercury's magnetic dipole moment which fits the measurements taken during both Mariner 10's first and third flybys. This new model of Mercury's magnetosphere is described and used to determine a best Mercury magnetic dipole moment of 192 nT R M 3 , from the two Mariner 10 flybys, a value which is intermediate between the various estimates produced by previous models. The best fit to the Mariner 10 measurements gives the dipole offset 0.18 R M above the equatorial plane. The new Paraboloidal model is used to predict the configuration of this miniature magnetosphere under average and extreme solar wind conditions.
Abstract. We start from an assumption that merging occurs in regions of the magnetopause where current strengths are greater than some threshold value which corresponds to the total jump in the field across the magnetopause greater than 50 nT. Because time and cost constraints preclude running numerical simulations for a wide variety of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientations to determine these locations, we adopt an analytical model based on previously derived formulations for magnetospheric and magnetosheath magnetic fields. The magnetospheric magnetic field is confined within a paraboloid. The magnetosheath magnetic field is derived from that in the solar wind and lies between the magnetopause and a paraboloid bow shock. We allow a slight diffusion of the magnetosheath magnetic field into the magnetosphere We compare the results of our model with previous predictions of the "component" and "antiparallel" merging models.
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