Submitting Campus

Daytona Beach

Department

Physical Sciences

Document Type

Article

Publication/Presentation Date

7-5-2023

Abstract/Description

The Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability is one of the most important mechanisms of the viscous like interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere (MSP), which transport the mass, energy, momentum, and magnetic flux. Thus, it is important to examine whether the magnetopause boundary is KH unstable or not. Based on the KH onset conditions, this report proposes to use a matrix to identify the most KH unstable direction based on the in-situ measurements of the density, velocity, and magnetic field in the MSP and magneto sheath. The range of the KH unstable direction can be easily estimated based on the eigenvalues of the matrix. The eigenvectors of the matrix provide a new boundary normal coordinate system, which could be useful for 2-D KH instability simulation.

Publication Title

JGR Space Physics

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JA031602

Publisher

AGU Advancing Earth and Space Sciences

Grant or Award Name

NASA funding: 80NSSC18K1108, 80NSSC22K0304, 80NSSC18K1381, DOE funding: GC87041, and NSF funding: 2308853

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