Becca Kolias and Michelle LeBlanc

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Becca Kolias and Michelle LeBlanc Our Advisors
Jimmy Raeder and John Dorelli
Introduction The magnetosphere is
important to the Earth. It protects the Earth
from solar radiation. Solar wind is made up of
plasma, or a soup of charged particles. The
solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere to
produce the beautiful auroras seen near the
poles. Solar wind can also interfere with
satellites and other space craft, destroying some
of their instruments. Our project consisted of
using density/time plots to calculate the
velocities of disturbances in the solar wind.
Such data can be used to predict when a space
craft will come in contact with the
disturbances.

Overview These graphs display the change in
shape and density in the magnetosphere as the
solar wind propagates through it.
Magnetopause This simulation shows
how a solar event would push back the
magnetopause. The first one (t0) is the original
position of the magnetopause. The second one
(t1) is the position after the solar event has
pushed it back. The different colors show the
density.
The Project (What we did and
our results)
Figure 1
Figure 2
Time Series Plots
These two plots display the density and speed
change between two points in the solar wind.
Solar Wind 468.67km/sec
Figure 4
Figure 3
We found the distance(Dd) between the two points
in kilometres by subtracting the x-points and
then multiplying the answer by 6327km. We found
the time(Dt) difference between the two points in
seconds by plotting the starting point of each
graph and then counting the number of lines
between them. We then divided the distance by
the time(Dd/Dt).
Figure 1 shows the magnetosphere before a solar
event. Figure 2 shows the solar wind just
entering the bow shock. Figure 3 shows the
magnetosphere after the event has reached the
magnetopause. Note the size of the bow shock.
Figure 4 shows the magnetosphere after the solar
wind has passed through it. Notice how the size
of the bow shock increases from previous
pictures. This is due to shock waves moving in
the opposite direction of the solar wind.
These two plots display the density and speed
change between two points in the magnetosphere.

Magnetosphere 506.16km/sec
Stack Plots
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) The study of the
motions of electrically conducting fluids and
their interactions with magnetic fields
(Wikipedia). An example of an electrically
conducting fluid would be plasma. A combination
of the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid dynamics
and Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism
describe MHD. The magnetic field exerts a force
on the plasma and the currents. MHD generates
and maintains turbulent magnetic fields. Alfven
waves are produced which propagate along field
lines.
This graph shows the density of the plasma on the
Z0 line as the solar wind propagates through it.
Each line represents Z0 at a different time.
The velocity can be calculated by measuring the
slope of the change in density.
This graph shows the magnitude of the magnetic
field on the Z0 line as the solar wind
propagates through it. Each line represents Z0
at a different time. The velocity can be
calculated by measuring the slope of the change
in magnetic field magnitude.
This simulation displays the magnetic field lines
in the earth's magnetosphere. The colorful sheet
in the front shows the density and the balls
represent points of reconnection that appear as
the sun's magnetic field combines with the
earth's magnetic field. The plasma would move
along these lines.