Jackel, Brian J.Cameron, Taylor Grant2019-09-202019-09-202019-09-18Cameron, T. G. (2019). Planar Structures in the Solar Wind and Their Effect on the Magnetosphere (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/111020This thesis is comprised of three studies which all concern implications of planar structuring in the solar wind. The first study presents a statistical comparison of various methods of determining solar wind phase front orientation for use in time-shifting solar wind data from the first Earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1) to the bowshock. It is found that the well known constrained minimum variance (MVAB-0) method is the best performing method for determining phase front orientation. The second study investigates using a 1.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical model oriented along the average phase front orientation as an alternative to time-shifting. The model is found to perform better than traditional time-shifting during times of sudden solar wind velocity changes. The third and final study investigates the effects of solar wind phase front orientation on magnetospheric activity using information theory. It is found that phase fronts oriented in the average Parker spiral orientation during times when the interplanetary magnetic field points northward (IMF Bz > 0) are more geoeffective than would otherwise be expected.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.MagnetosphereSolar WindTime-shiftingPlasma PhysicsSpace PhysicsAtmospheric ScienceElectricity and Magnetismdoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/37085