Characteristics of the Magnetosheath Electron Boundary Layer Under Northward IMF: Implications for High-Latitude Reconnection

Details Characteristics of the Magnetosheath Electron Boundary Layer Under Northward IMF: Implications for High-Latitude Reconnection Characteristics of the Magnetosheath Electron Boundary Layer Under Northward IMF: Implications for High-Latitude Reconnection

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufmsm11c..02l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #SM11C-02

Physics

2134 Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 2724 Magnetopause, Cusp, And Boundary Layers, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

We analyze Cluster data to explore the statistical properties of the magnetosheath electron boundary layer, observed outside the high-latitude dayside magnetopause, under northward IMF. The presence of heated magnetosheath electrons coincident with the normal cool magnetosheath ion population in this layer is taken as the signature of magnetosheath field lines that have reconnected with the high-latitude magnetic field of the earth. We investigate the dependence of the presence and directionality of heated magnetosheath electrons on the dipole tilt angle and the IMF tilt angle. The recurrent presence of bi-directional heated electrons outside the probable magnetopause suggests that magnetosheath field lines may frequently reconnect in both hemispheres. We further investigate the occurrence of such bi-directional heated electrons outside the magnetopause as a function of the IMF clock angle orientation. The findings are discussed in the context of double high-latitude reconnection as a possible mechanism for low-latitude boundary layer, and eventually cold, dense plasma sheet formation under northward IMF.

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