Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm44b..05p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM44B-05
Physics
2700 Magnetospheric Physics (6939), 2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2744 Magnetotail, 2790 Substorms
Scientific paper
In the substorm NENL model (McPherron 1991, Baker et al. 1996) and the global synthesis paradigm (Pu et al. 1999, 2001), tail lobe reconnection (TLR) of open field lines is responsible for releasing magnetic energy in the tail to cause the major onset of a number of substorms. Study of the features of TLR in observations is thus of particular interest. This paper reports case studies of a few typical TLR events and statistical results of 39 events observed by Cluster from 2001 to 2003. To show the observational features of TLR, measurements of the magnetic field (B), plasma bulk velocity (V), temperature (T) and number density (N) onboard Cluster four spacecraft are analyzed, in comparison with the data from the world network of the ground-based magnetometers, with the usage of the magnetogram inversion technique MIT-2 (Mishin, 1991). In each event studied MR can be divided into two stages: foregoing plasma sheet MR (PSR) of closed field lines and following TLR. During PSR, the open flux in polar cap ? is continuously accumulated, and T and N remain essentially the same as in the plasma sheet, if spacecraft are not in the center of the plasma sheet. On the other hand, during TLR ? rapidly reduces, and T and N drop off to the level as low as in the lobes. It is seen that the ? starts to decrease almost simultaneously with the appearance of the TLR signatures in Cluster measurements. Quite often TLR occurs quasi-periodically with a period being approximately 2-3 hours. A comparison of observations with simulations is made to get better understanding of the TLR process. *This work is supported by the CNSF Project 40390152, 40536030 and Chinese Fundamental Research Project 2006CB806300.
Cao Xinwu
Dunlop Malcolm
Escoubet Philippe
Fu Siqi
Liu Zhiyi
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