Types of discontinuity in the Interplanetary Magnetic Field
Date: 25 November 2004
Satellite: Cluster
Depicts: Sketch of types of discontinuity
Copyright: ESA
Left panel: sketch of a rotational discontinuity where the two sides of the discontinuity are magnetically connected, as one component of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field is parallel to n, the normal of the discontinuity plane.
Right panel: sketch of a tangential discontinuity which, by definition, separates two distinct plasmas, indicated by different colour of the B field arrows, both orthogonal to the normal vector.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
