Solar Terrestrial Relations
Homework 4 Due Nov 20, 2025
1. Solar structure:
(a) What are the key regions and processes in the solar interior?
(b) What are the key layers and structures in the solar atmosphere?
2. Sunspot magnetic field:
Assuming the temperature within sunspots is 50% of the photospheric temperature, how
much stronger is the magnetic field in the sunspot relative to the photosphere? Use
average photospheric parameters T = 6,600 K, n = 1.4 · 1017 cm−3 and B = 0.1 T.
3. Solar wind:
Consider a spherically symmetric solar corona with isothermal plasma (T = const) that
can be described by the ideal gas law (p = nkB (Te + Ti ) = 2nkB T ). Assume a steady
state in hydrostatic equilibrium, where the pressure force balances gravitation
dp ρgs Rs2
+ =0
dr r2
where gs is the surface gravitation of the Sun, Rs is the Solar radius, and ρ = nmp is the
proton mass density. You can assume the plasma is made of protons and that there is no
magnetic field (B = 0).
(a) Derive the radial profile for the pressure by integrating the force balance equation
above. Hint: Solve the differential equation by assuming a solution of the form
A exp(f (r)) and the integration constant by assuming you know the surface
pressure ps = p(Rs ).
(b) Calculate the pressure far from the Sun, e.g., at Earth orbit (r = 1AU ) assuming
that the corona is at 1 MK temperature, surface gravitation is gs = 274 m/s2 , and
surface pressure ps = 1, 000 Pa.
(c) The observed pressure at Earth orbit is about 2 nPa. Is hydrostatic equilibrium a
viable solution for the heliosphere? What temperature in the corona would give the
right pressure at Earth orbit?
4. Pressure balance at the magnetopause
Evaluate and identify the dominant terms in pressure balance equation
ptot = pdyn + pth + pB = const
between the solar wind and subsolar magnetosphere (fill in the table giving the plasma
and field parameters). The pressure terms are given by
B2
pdyn = nmp v 2 ; pth = nkB T ; pB =
2µ0
n (cm−3 ) kB T (keV) B(nT) v (km/s) pdyn pth pB
Solar wind 5 0.01 5 450
Subsolar magnetopause 0.1 5 70 20
Table 1: Magnetopause pressure balance
5. Geomagnetic indices:
(a) Define the AL index and calculate the index value assuming that the maximum
current in the westward electrojet is 1 MA and that the electrojet can be
represented by a line current at 100 km altitude. Is this a big or small substorm?
(b) Define the Dst index and calculate the index value assuming that the ring current is
symmetric around the Earth and can be represented by a line current of 1 MA at a
distance of 4 RE . Is this a big or small storm?
6. Storm sudden commencement:
Assume that a solar wind pressure pulse hits the magnetosphere, increasing the pressure
from 2 nPa to 10 nPa. Using the pressure-corrected Dst index
√ √
Dst∗ = Dst − b p + c; b = 15nT / nP a, c = 20nT
calculate ∆Dst, the change the pulse will have on the Dst index. You can assume that
the change is fast enough that the ring current (or other internal currents in the
magnetosphere) will not change.
Extra Homework
1. Derive Parker solution for solar wind:
Integrate Parker solution for the solar wind speed
2 2
v v r rc
− ln = 4 ln + 4 + Const
vc vc rc r
starting from the momentum equation
kB T 1 dv 2kB T 1 GMS
v− − + =0
m v dr m r r2
Using Msun = 2 · 1030 kg, G = 6.67 · 10−11 m3 /(kg s2 ) and Tcorona = 1 MK, simplify the
equation and estimate how much the solar wind speed deviates from being radially
constant (i) between Venus (0.7 AU) and the Earth and (ii) between Earth and Jupiter
(5.2 AU)
2. Derive Parker solution for spiral IMF:
Derive the Parker spiral solution for the IMF in the equatorial plane starting from the
assumption that the field at the surface is radially outward, and that the field above the
surface has only radial and azimuthal components that are spherically symmetric.
B(r) = Br (r)eˆr + Bϕ (r)eˆϕ
B(rs ) = Bs eˆr
and using the Gauss law and the induction equation.
3. Derive the Dessler - Parker - Sckopke relation:
For a dipole field, derive the the relationship between the depression of the magnetic field
at the Earth’s center caused by ring current particles and the total kinetic energy of the
trapped particles (the Dessler - Parker - Sckopke relation) using the following steps:
(a) Assume the Earth’s internal field is a dipole, which at the equator has the form
RE 3
B = B0 ( )
r
and equatorially mirroring (90◦ pitch angle) particles, for which the curvature drift
is zero, and the particles drift around the Earth under the gradient drift
2
mv⊥ ∇B × B
vg = −
2q B3
Calculate the current Iϕ the drift motion creates as a single particle drifts around
the Earth at a distance r = L · RE .
(b) Calculate the magnetic disturbance at the center of the Earth using Ampere’s law
for a line current, and the previously obtained value for the current Iϕ .
(c) Express the particle’s magnetic moment
2
mv⊥
µm =
2B
in terms of perpendicular energy W⊥ = 12 mv⊥2 , L and B , and calculate the field
0
disturbance this magnetic moment causes at the center of the Earth, remembering
that it produces a dipole field of the form
µ0 3(µ · er )er − µ
B(µ, r) =
4π r3
This is the magnetic perturbation from the particle’s gyromotion around the field
line.
(d) Sum up the two field contributions from (b) and (c) to get the field disturbance at
the center of the Earth.
(e) Integrate the magnetic energy density above the Earth’s surface
B2
Z
Wmag = dV
2µ0
where the integration is carried out from the surface of the Earth (r = 1RE ) to
infinity, and the volume element in spherical coordinates is dV = r2 sin(θ)drdθdϕ.
(f) Express the total magnetic perturbation at the Earth’s center caused by the
trapped ring-current particle in terms of the kinetic energy and the energy of the
Earth’s dipole field.