Temporal evolution of a staircase ion signature observed by Cluster in the mid-altitude polar cusp

Details Temporal evolution of a staircase ion signature observed by Cluster in the mid-altitude polar cusp Temporal evolution of a staircase ion signature observed by Cluster in the mid-altitude polar cusp

Apr 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006georl..3307108e&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 33, Issue 7, CiteID L07108

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

12

Magnetospheric Physics: Cusp, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetopause And Boundary Layers, Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy: Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835)

Scientific paper

We use the Cluster string of pearls configuration to investigate temporal variations of ion precipitation in the mid-altitude polar cusp. On 7 Aug. 2004, Cluster 4 was moving poleward through the Northern cusp, followed by Cluster 1, Cluster 2, and finally Cluster 3. The Wind spacecraft detected a Southward turning of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) at the beginning of the cusp crossings and IMF-Bz stayed negative throughout. Cluster 4 observed a high energy step in the ion dispersion around 1 keV on the equatorward side of the cusp. C1, entering the cusp around 1 minute later, did not observe the high energy step anymore but a partial dispersion with a low energy cut-off reaching 100 eV. About 9 min later, C3 entered the cusp and observed a full ion dispersion from a few keV down to around 50 eV. The open-closed boundary, identified by electron precipitation, was initially moving equatorward at a rate of -0.43° ILAT/minute at the beginning of the event and then slowed down to -0.16° ILAT/minute, suggesting the erosion of the dayside magnetosphere under IMF Southward. This event is explained by the onset of dayside reconnection when the IMF turned southward; the step being the first signature of the reconnection that would then evolve as a full dispersion as reconnection goes on. We observed 1-3 keV ions near the open-closed boundary on the three spacecraft crossings that suggests a continuous reconnection during about 9 minutes.

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