Multipoint observations of transient reconnection signatures in the cusp precipitation: A Cluster-IMAGE detailed case study

Details Multipoint observations of transient reconnection signatures in the cusp precipitation: A Cluster-IMAGE detailed case study Multipoint observations of transient reconnection signatures in the cusp precipitation: A Cluster-IMAGE detailed case study

Mar 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005jgra..11003219b&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 110, Issue A3, CiteID A03219

Physics

12

Magnetospheric Physics: Cusp, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), Magnetospheric Physics: Field-Aligned Currents And Current Systems (2409), Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Convection (2463)

Scientific paper

This paper uses 90 min of Cluster multipoint data at ~5 RE altitude together with global dayside imaging data provided by the IMAGE-SI-12 instrument to analyze the northern cusp crossed on 14 July 2001, during a period of high solar wind pressure Psw and strongly duskward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Simultaneous observations reveal intense cusp activity in the postnoon sector, characterized by multiple, impulsive energy-dispersed ion injections, with a recurrence time of ~8-10 min or less. Most of these transient signatures correspond one to one with repeated Psw enhancements. A multipoint analysis reveals that field-aligned current sheets associated with ion steps are moving predominantly westward with a velocity, up to ~20 km/s, in agreement with a flux tube motion controlled by magnetic tension forces when IMF By $\gg$ 0. These data are used to infer a source region located at ~7-13 RE from Cluster, that is, on the dusk flank of the compressed magnetosphere, around 17-18 magnetic local time. We interpret these very dynamic and transient features as probable signatures of pulsed magnetic reconnection that is operating in a localized region of the magnetopause centered in the preferential antiparallel merging site. Our results suggest that the reconnection rate is not spontaneously self-varying but may be directly modulated by either upstream dynamic pressure Psw or changes in the IMF polarity.

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