Structure and detection of Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices in the ... - GPSM

Introduction
Observations show:
The magnetopause boundary layer gets THICK at low latitudes,
and the plasma sheet becomes COLD and DENSE, during
Northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) periods.
(e.g., Mitchell et al., 1987; Terasawa et al., 1997)
These facts suggest significant transport of solar wind
plasmas into the magnetosphere under northward IMF
conditions.
What is the transport mechanism
□ Magnetic reconnection (e.g., Song & Russell, 1992)
□ Transport through Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI)
(e.g., Fujimoto & Terasawa, 1994)
□ Diffusion via wave-particle interactions, such as via Kinetic
Alfven waves (e.g., Johnson & Cheng, 1997)