Plasma acceleration at the earth's magnetopause - Evidence for reconnection

Details Plasma acceleration at the earth's magnetopause - Evidence for reconnection Plasma acceleration at the earth's magnetopause - Evidence for reconnection

Nov 1979

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1979natur.282..243p&link_type=abstract

Nature, vol. 282, Nov. 15, 1979, p. 243-246. Research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy; Bundesministerium für Forschun

Other

124

Geomagnetism, Magnetic Field Reconnection, Magnetohydrodynamic Flow, Magnetopause, Plasma Acceleration, International Sun Earth Explorers, Magnetohydrodynamic Waves, Magnetosheath, Magnetospheric Instability

Scientific paper

Observations of high-speed plasma at the magnetopause in agreement with theoretical predictions of magnetic field reconnection are reported. Plasma ion and electron distributions measured by the quadrispherical analyzers on board the ISEE 1 and 2 spacecraft were obtained during the outbound traversal of the subsolar magnetopause. Plasma flow speeds of up to 450 km/sec were observed in the magnetopause layer, in contrast to speeds of 50 to 100 km/sec in the adjacent magnetosheath. The observations agree with the predictions of the reconnection model of the dayside magnetopause, in which the magnetopause is described as a rotational discontinuity, or a large-amplitude Alfven wave. It is noted that the lack of observations of plasma acceleration in most other cases of favorable magnetic field orientation could be a product of the rarity of magnetic recombination, or its small scale and nonstationarity.

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