Near-Earth Magnetotail Reconnection and Plasmoid Formation in Connection With a Substorm Onset on 27 August 2001

Details Near-Earth Magnetotail Reconnection and Plasmoid Formation in Connection With a Substorm Onset on 27 August 2001 Near-Earth Magnetotail Reconnection and Plasmoid Formation in Connection With a Substorm Onset on 27 August 2001

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufmsm31a..02e&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #SM31A-02

Physics

2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2744 Magnetotail, 2788 Storms And Substorms, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection

Scientific paper

We have examined the magnetic field and ion velocity data from the Cluster spacecraft on 27 August 2001 when the spacecraft were located in the postmidnight magnetotail at xGSM=-19 RE and yGSM=-2 RE. Fast earthward flows were recorded at both Cluster sc1 and sc3 ˜32 min prior to a substorm onset at ˜0401 UT, when enhanced tailward flows were detected at both spacecraft. Cluster sc3 also detects earthward directed flows ˜30 min after the onset. These plasma flows are suggestive of slow-mode shocks in a Petschek-type reconnection layer. The negative By component of the observed magnetic field coincident with high-speed tailward flows at substorm onset strongly suggest the formation and ejection of a plasmoid. We apply a curvature analysis technique on the magnetic field data to investigate the topology of the plasmoid during its evolution. The indication that reconnection is active prior to the downtail release of the plasmoid at substorm onset may be interpreted as a semi-continuous erosion of magnetic fields in the near-Earth magnetotail region and may provide us with information on the dynamic evolution of the near-Earth neutral line (NENL) to the point of plasmoid release.

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