Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure on the Earth's Orbit and Magnetopause Standoff Distance

The SW parameters in the Earth's orbit are calculated from the measurements of the spacecraft ACE. As a technique, a time-shift calculation based on the plasma velocity (Vx-component, which is directed along the Sun-Earth line) was used. The time necessary for plasma transfer to near-earth orbit was determined and for these plasma flows in the vicinity of the ACE, the time of their arrival into the Earth's orbit was set.

The form and the location of the magnetospheric boundary are defined by pressure balance of the solar wind and geomagnetic field. Parameters of the interplanetary environment are subject to the considerable changes connected with active processes on the Sun. It leads to changes of the magnetospheric spatial dimensions, in particular, to stand-off distance fluctuations. Being under continuous influence of the solar wind, the magnetosphere of Earth reflects the variations of parameters of the interplanetary environment. Subsolar point was calculated in accordance with the [Kuznetsov-Suvorova, 1998] model