Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Simultaneous in-situ observations of the signature of dayside reconnection at the high and low latitude magnetopause
AU - Wild, J. A.
AU - Milan, S. E.
AU - Cowley, S. W. H.
AU - Bosqued, J. M.
AU - Rème, H.
AU - Nagai, T.
AU - Kokubun, S.
AU - Saito, Y.
AU - Mukai, T.
AU - Cooling, B. M. A.
AU - Balogh, A.
PY - 2005/2
Y1 - 2005/2
N2 - We present magnetic field and particle data recorded by the Cluster and Geotail satellites in the vicinity of the high- and low-latitude dayside magnetopause, re- spectively, on 17 February 2003. A favourable conjunction of these spacecraft culminated in the observation of a series of flux transfer events (FTEs), characterised by bipolar perturbations in the component of the magnetic field normal to the magnetopause, an enhancement in the overall mag- netic field strength, and field tilting effects in the plane of the magnetopause whilst the satellites were located on the magnetosheath side of the boundary. Whilst a subset of the FTE signatures observed could be identified as being either normal or reverse polarity, the rapid succession of events observed made it difficult to classify some of the signatures unambiguously. Nevertheless, by considering the source region and motion of flux tubes opened by magnetic reconnection at low latitudes (i.e. between Cluster and Geotail), we demonstrate that the observations are consistent with the motion of northward (southward) and tailward moving flux tubes anchored in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere passing in close proximity to the Cluster (Geotail) satellites. We are able to demonstrate that a multi-spacecraft approach, coupled with a realistic model of flux tube motion in the magnetosheath, enables us to infer the approximate position of the reconnection site, which in this case was located at near-equatorial latitudes.
AB - We present magnetic field and particle data recorded by the Cluster and Geotail satellites in the vicinity of the high- and low-latitude dayside magnetopause, re- spectively, on 17 February 2003. A favourable conjunction of these spacecraft culminated in the observation of a series of flux transfer events (FTEs), characterised by bipolar perturbations in the component of the magnetic field normal to the magnetopause, an enhancement in the overall mag- netic field strength, and field tilting effects in the plane of the magnetopause whilst the satellites were located on the magnetosheath side of the boundary. Whilst a subset of the FTE signatures observed could be identified as being either normal or reverse polarity, the rapid succession of events observed made it difficult to classify some of the signatures unambiguously. Nevertheless, by considering the source region and motion of flux tubes opened by magnetic reconnection at low latitudes (i.e. between Cluster and Geotail), we demonstrate that the observations are consistent with the motion of northward (southward) and tailward moving flux tubes anchored in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere passing in close proximity to the Cluster (Geotail) satellites. We are able to demonstrate that a multi-spacecraft approach, coupled with a realistic model of flux tube motion in the magnetosheath, enables us to infer the approximate position of the reconnection site, which in this case was located at near-equatorial latitudes.
KW - Cluster
KW - Double Star DCS-publications-id
KW - art-679
KW - DCS-publications-credits
KW - iono-fa
KW - DCS-publications-personnel-id
KW - 104
U2 - 10.5194/angeo-23-445-2005
DO - 10.5194/angeo-23-445-2005
M3 - Journal article
VL - 23
SP - 445
EP - 460
JO - Annales Geophysicae
JF - Annales Geophysicae
SN - 0992-7689
IS - 2
ER -