The region where the solar wind impacts the earth's magnetic field is called the bow shock region. There the plasma is composed of ions and electrons that have velocity distributions dependent in part on the acceleration mechanisms and wave particle interactions taking place. This study will use in-situ satellite observations, simulations and numerical and analytical stability analyses to investigate the properties of these gyrophase-bunched distributions upstream from the bow shock. A search will also be made for the occurrence of these distributions elsewhere in the magnetosphere.
