Dawn-Dusk Asymmetries in Planetary Plasma Environments

Dawn­Dusk Asymmetries in Planetary Plasma Environments Dawn-dusk asymmetries are ubiquitous features of the plasma environment of many of the planets in our solar system. They occur when a particular process or feature is more pronounced at one side of a planet than the other. For example, recent observations indicate that Earth's magnetopause is thicker at dawn than at dusk. Likewise, auroral breakups at Earth are more likely to occur in the pre-midnight than post-midnight sectors. Increasing availability of remotely sensed and in situ measurements of planetary ionospheres, magnetospheres and their interfaces to the solar wind have revealed significant and persistent daw…