PRESSURE-PULSE DRIVEN SURFACE-WAVES AT THE MAGNETOPAUSE - A REBUTTAL

A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to account for transient ev ents observed in the vicinity of the dayside magnetopause. Discriminat ing among the various proposed mechanisms is a key objective of magnet ospheric physics but requires careful consideration of their predictio ns. Song et al. (1994) recently reported the results of an effort to d etermine the characteristics of transient events produced by variation s in the solar wind dynamic pressure. Noting that the observed charact eristics did not coincide with those they predicted, they concluded th at transient events in the vicinity of the dayside magnetopause could not be caused by solar wind dynamic pressure variations. In this rebut tal, we call attention to our previous work concerning the expected ch aracteristics of transient events produced by variations in the solar wind and foreshock pressure; that work uses more realistic parameters to conclude that the transient events are consistent with a solar wind /foreshock pressure mechanism.