Statistic study of magnetosphere response to magnetic clouds: INTERBALL multi-satellite observations

Several unusual features related to the interaction of magnetic clouds with the Earth's magnetosphere as observed on the INTERBALL satellites during 1 995-1997 are discussed. The main cause of magnetospheric disturbances is hi gh pressure pulses on leading and trailing edges of clouds. Interaction of clouds with the magnetosphere results in its compression and deformation, l arge scale motions of the magnetic tail and initiations of substorms and st orms. Several important consequences of these processes were (1) observatio ns of magnetospheric regions and boundaries much closer to the Earth than o n average; (2) increases of density and temperature in outer regions of mag netosphere; (3) multiple crossings of geomagnetic tail boundaries presumabl y due to tail flapping, and (4) bursty fluxes of high energy ions and elect rons in the auroral region and polar cap. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.