Adam Szabo
Goddard Space Flight Center
Is there still something we do not know about Interplanetary Shocks?
Interplanetary (IP) shocks have been studied in detail during the past decades. However, there remain a number of unexplained phenomena relating to shocks. Triangulation of type II radio emissions reveal that the source of this emission is highly localized along the driven shock and change with time. High energy particle enhancements at the passing of 1 AU shocks do not simply correlate with local shock characteristics. These observations point out that IP shocks cannot be described with one set of characteristics, that they are highly variable along their fronts. Near-Earth multi-spacecraft observations will be presented to describe the variability of shocks on a ~100 Re scale. The limitations of current shock fitting techniques will be addressed along with detailed requirements for future observations.