Fig. 3: A 2-D view of the simulated magnetic field, plasma and FACs by the PPMLR-MHD code at 11:09 UT on 10 April 2015. | Communications Earth & Environment

Fig. 3: A 2-D view of the simulated magnetic field, plasma and FACs by the PPMLR-MHD code at 11:09 UT on 10 April 2015.

From: Unusual shrinkage and reshaping of Earth’s magnetosphere under a strong northward interplanetary magnetic field

Fig. 3

The left and right columns are for the X–Z and X–Y planes, respectively. a, b Selected magnetic field lines: the blue lines are half-open field lines generated by single-lobe reconnections, the red lines in the magnetotail are full-open field lines generated by dual-lobe reconnection, the green lines are closed field lines, and the pink lines represent the upstream IMF; the IMF vector in the Y–Z plane is also shown in the upper right corner of b; c, d the logarithm of the density and overlaid velocity vectors and the open-closed field line boundary (OCB, green dashed curve, identified from Fig. S3) with zoom-in areas in the upper right corner corresponding to the regions highlighted with white boxes; e, f field-aligned currents, red indicates the direction outward from the surface, and blue indicates inward.

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