Characteristics of Intense Current-carrying Structures in the
Terrestrial Magnetosheath
Abstract
We exploit novel “string-of-pearls” configuration of NASA’s
Magnetospheric Multiscale mission to investigate properties of
structures within the Earth’s magnetosheath that are short in duration
but carry intense currents. Previous work has shown that the j.E energy
conversion within current structures processes of order 10% of the
total energy flux incident at the bow shock. This makes these events
important contributors to the overall shock energy budget and ongoing
thermalization within the magnetosheath. The present study, under very
similar solar wind conditions and bow shock geometries, reveals
significant qualitative differences from the previous study. Moreover,
we find only modest, if any coherence, on scales <1000 km. We
explore the implication of these observations in terms of both bow shock
and turbulence energy transfer and dissipation.