Multi-spacecraft Observations of a Solar Wind Reconnection Exhaust Propagating into the Earth's Magnetosheath

Details Multi-spacecraft Observations of a Solar Wind Reconnection Exhaust Propagating into the Earth's Magnetosheath Multi-spacecraft Observations of a Solar Wind Reconnection Exhaust Propagating into the Earth's Magnetosheath

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsh53a1475b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SH53A-1475

Physics

2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2728 Magnetosheath, 7526 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7835), 7835 Magnetic Reconnection (2723, 7526)

Scientific paper

Magnetic reconnection exhausts or jets have long been observed at the Earth's magnetopause and in the magnetotail. More recent research has established the presence of numerous large (x-line up to 2.5×106 km, exhaust widths ~105-106 km) quasi-stationary reconnection exhausts in the solar wind observed by multiple spacecraft. Here we examine a reconnection exhaust convecting past the Wind and ACE spacecraft, located in the vicinity of L1 on April 1, 2003. The structure remained intact after passing through the Earth's bow shock and was observed by the Cluster fleet of spacecraft in formation just outside the magnetopause. The characteristic changes in magnetic field orientation (i.e. current sheet), reduction in field magnitude and Alfvénic flow within the exhaust region were observed by all the aforementioned spacecraft. Minimum variance analysis on the ACE magnetometer data (MVAB) gives a current sheet normal in reasonable agreement with the propagation timing of an oblique 1D structure (n = (0.80, 0.60, 0.09) REarth gse, 53° to Sun-Earth line) first passing the Wind spacecraft and then passing the ACE spacecraft 22 min later. Sampling a different portion of the extended reconnection exhaust, Wind passed though and then re-entered the exhaust before passing out a final time. This may be due to a local bulge or folding over of the exhaust. The MVAB at Wind reveals a different normal direction, indicating a slight curvature to the reconnection exhaust global structure. In propagating into the Earth's magnetosheath, the exhaust preserved its basic magnetic field and plasma structure. The exhaust normal at Cluster (from timing) is conceptually consistent with flow deflection as the shocked solar wind approached the magnetopause. Suprathermal electron measurements on ACE indicated that this exhaust occurred at the edge of a region where the magnetic field folded back toward the Sun. Such folded field intervals are often attributed to interchange reconnection; however rather than being a remnant of the interchange event, it is likely that the observed reconnection exhaust resulted from a later, more local, reconnection event.

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