Physics
Scientific paper
May 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusmsm42d..01s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #SM42D-01
Physics
2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection
Scientific paper
It has been known for several decades that magnetic merging on the dayside of Earth is controlled by the north/south orientation of the magnetic field in the solar wind. The local rate of magnetic merging has been studied by a number of authors using ground-based HF radars to observe plasma motions in the ionosphere. A statistical pattern for the global rate of magnetic reconnection was obtained by acquisition of observations at different local times as the radar rotated with the Earth. However, the observations were not simultaneous and thus represent an average statistical picture. Consequently, the global efficiency of magnetic merging for the solar wind and the magnetosphere is not well understood as a function of solar wind magnetic field strength, magnetic field orientation, and velocity. Global auroral images acquired with the Earth Camera of the Visible Imaging System (VIS) on the Polar spacecraft are used to determine the instantaneous open polar cap magnetic flux. The poleward boundary of the auroral oval observed with the Polar/VIS Earth Camera is the location of the separatrix between the open magnetic field of the polar cap that connects to the lobes of the magnetosphere and of the closed magnetic field of the auroral zone that connects to the plasma sheet. The time rate of change of the observed open polar cap magnetic flux is the net result of magnetic merging in the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction region and reconnection in the distant magnetotail. During periods of low activity in the nightside auroral oval, the reconnection rate in the magnetotail is small and the change in the total open magnetic flux of the polar cap is a direct measure of the global rate of merging on the dayside. The results of a study to determine the dependence of the global rate of dayside magnetic merging on the magnetic field and plasma parameters in the solar wind will be presented. The global rate of magnetic merging on the dayside is found to highly correlate with vBsin4(\thetac/2) with an R2 of 0.93.
Fox Nicola J.
Frank Louis A.
Sigwarth John B.
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