A gas dynamic magnetosheath field model for unsteady interplanetary fields - Application to the solar wind interaction with Venus

The steady state gas dynamic model of magnetosheath magnetic fields previously developed by Spreiter and Stahara (1980) is generalized for the common situation of a temporally varying interplanetary field orientation. Examples for the particular case of Venus in the solar wind illustrate the application of the model to the passage of rotational discontinuities and MHD waves through planetary magnetosheaths. The results of this model illustrate how the field structure near a planetary magnetopause or ionopause can be affected by interplanetary field variations rather than by local processes because of the “pile up” of magnetosheath fields from a sequence of upstream fields. Changes in the spectrum of interplanetary waves on their transmission to the magnetopause are also indicated.