On the existence of a second standing shock wave attached to the magnetosphere

It is shown that, except in the nose region, plasma flow in the magnetosheath is supersonic. The bulging out of the magnetopause just behind the neutral points in the noon meridional plane, and behind demarcation lines defined by the locus of points of character similar to the neutral points in other meridional planes, presents a new obstacle to the supersonically flowing plasma. Therefore, a standing shock wave is expected to exist within the magnetosheath slightly upstream of the demarcation-line bulge.