The characteristic of the magnetopause reconnection X-line deduced from low-altitude satellite observations of cusp ions

Details The characteristic of the magnetopause reconnection X-line deduced from low-altitude satellite observations of cusp ions The characteristic of the magnetopause reconnection X-line deduced from low-altitude satellite observations of cusp ions

Dec 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994georl..21.2757l&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 21, no. 24, p. 2757-2760

Physics

25

Distribution Functions, Earth Ionosphere, Ion Distribution, Line Spectra, Magnetopause, Magnetosheath, Atmospheric Boundary Layer, Dispersing, Low Altitude, Satellite Observation

Scientific paper

We present an analysis of a 'quasi-steady' cusp ion dispersion signature observed at low altitudes. We reconstruct the field-parallel part of the Cowley-D ion distribution function, injected into the open low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) in the vicinity of the reconnection X-line. From this we find the field parallel magnetosheath flow at the X-line was only 20 +/- 60 km/s, placing the reconnection site close to the flow streamline which is perpendicular to the magnetosheath field. Using interplanetary data and assuming the subsolar magnetopause is in pressure balance, we derive a wealth of information about the X-line, including: the density, flow, magnetic field and Alfven speed of the magnetosheath; the magnetic shear across the X-line; the de-Hoffman Teller speed with which field lines emerge from the X-line; the magnetospheric field; and the ion transmission factor across the magnetopause. The results indicate that some heating takes place near the X-line as the ions cross the magnetopause, and that sheath densities may be reduced in a plasma depletion layer. We also compute the reconnection rate. Despite its quasi-steady appearance on an ion spectrogram, this cusp is found to reveal a large pulse of enhanced reconnection rate.

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