Evidence for a flux transfer event generated by multiple X‐line reconnection at the magnetopause

Hasegawa, Hiroshi; Wang, J.; Dunlop, M. W.; Pu, Z. Y.; Zhang, Q.; Lavraud, B.; Taylor, M. G. G. T.; Constantinescu, Dragoş; Berchem, Guy; Angelopoulos, V.; McFadden, J. P.; Frey, H. U.; Panov, E. V.; Volwerk, M.; Bogdanova, Y. V.

doi:10.1029/2010gl044219

Cited by 134 publications

(190 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The peculiarity of this FTE is that the ions stream northward (positive L direction) and westward (positive M direction) at the leading part of the FTE, but reverse direction at the turning point of the B N component. Based on the theory of Lee and Fu [1985], these two oppositely directed flows converging toward the center of the FTE are produced by multiple X line reconnection occurring beside the FTE, which is confirmed by the active FTE cases reported by Hasegawa et al [2010] and Zhang et al [2008]. This distinctive flow in the FTE suggests that this FTE has been freshly formed.…”

Section: Phase Bsupporting

confidence: 53%

Magnetopause response to variations in the solar wind: Conjunction observations between Cluster, TC-1, and SuperDARN

Zhang¹,

Shen²,

Liu³

et al. 2011

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] How the solar wind affects the location of the magnetopause has been widely studied and excellent models of the magnetopause based on in situ observations in the solar wind and at the magnetopause have been established, while the careful insight into the responses of the magnetopause to the variations in the solar wind can still provide us some new information about the processes in space plasmas. The short distance from Cluster to TC-1 on 9 March 2004, between 06:10 and 08:10 UT, gives us a good opportunity to precisely monitor the responses of the magnetopause to the variations in the solar wind. On the basis of the combined observations between Cluster, TC-1, and SuperDARN we analyze the magnetopause crossings associated with magnetopause motion or magnetic reconnection when the solar wind conditions have a series of variations. New results about the time delays for the propagation from the solar wind monitor to the magnetopause of the interplanetary magnetic fields (IMF) and of the solar wind dynamic pressure, respectively, and the intrinsic time for reconnection onset at the magnetopause are obtained. The most important feature of the event is that the dynamic pressure and the IMF in the solar wind do not arrive at the magnetopause at the same time, which will direct us to find out how the variation in the solar wind dynamic pressure is transported from the bow shock to the magnetopause. Another significant feature is that this event presents a shorter intrinsic time, ∼2 min, for reconnection onset at the dayside magnetopause than that given by the previous work of Le et al. (1993) and Russell et al. (1997).

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Section: Phase Bsupporting

confidence: 53%

Magnetopause response to variations in the solar wind: Conjunction observations between Cluster, TC-1, and SuperDARN

Zhang¹,

Shen²,

Liu³

et al. 2011

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…This signature has been used in many studies to identify diffusion region encounters, and also in developing statistics that are used to characterize the average location of reconnection sites in the magnetotail. However, multispacecraft studies in the magnetotail (e.g., Eastwood et al 2005) and at the magnetopause (e.g., Hasegawa et al 2010;) have shown that this signature alone can be misleading. Signatures that conventionally would be interpreted as a single X-line moving in one direction could in fact be an O-line (at the center of a flux rope bounded by two active X-lines) moving in the opposite direction.…”

Section: Contrasting Reconnection X-lines and O-lines (Flux Rope) Sigmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing the Context for Reconnection Diffusion Region Encounters and Strategies for the Capture and Transmission of Diffusion Region Burst Data by MMS

et al. 2015

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This paper describes the efforts of our Inter-Disciplinary Scientist (IDS) team to (a) establish the large-scale context for reconnection diffusion region encounters by MMS at the magnetopause and in the magnetotail, including the distinction between X-line and O-line encounters, that would help the identification of diffusion regions in spacecraft data, and (b) devise possible strategies that can be used by MMS to capture and transmit burst data associated with diffusion region candidates. At the magnetopause we suggest the strategy of transmitting burst data from all magnetopause crossings so that no magnetopause reconnection diffusion regions encountered by the spacecraft will be missed. The strategy is made possible by the MMS mass memory and downlink budget. In the magnetotail, it is estimated that MMS will be able to transmit burst data for all diffusion regions, all reconnection jet fronts (a.k.a. dipolarization fronts) and separatrix encounters, but less than 50 % of reconnection exhausts encountered by the spacecraft. We also discuss automated burst trigger schemes that could capture various reconnection-related phenomena. The identification of candidate diffusion region encounters by the burst trigger schemes will be verified and improved by a Scientist-In-The-Loop (SITL). With the knowledge of the properties of the region surrounding the diffusion region and the combination of automated burst triggers and further optimization by the SITL, MMS should be able to capture most diffusion regions it encounters.

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“…Observations by the four-spacecraft Cluster mission ) have contributed to analysis of the motion of FTEs and the open magnetic field lines at the magnetopause (e.g. Owen et al, 2001Owen et al, , 2008Wild et al, 2001;Dunlop et al, 2005;Fear et al, 2005Fear et al, , 2008Fear et al, , 2009Fear et al, , 2010Fear et al, , 2012Hasegawa et al, 2006Hasegawa et al, , 2010Farrugia et al, 2011). The tetrahedral configuration of the four spacecraft and their variable separation have provided a platform for reconstruction methods to determine the cross-sectional profiles of FTEs using, for example, Grad-Shafranov techniques (e.g.…”

Section: A Varsani Et Al: Analysis Of High-time-resolution Observatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cluster observations of the substructure of a flux transfer event: analysis of high-time-resolution particle data

Varsani¹,

Owen²,

Fazakerley³

et al. 2014

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. Flux transfer events (FTEs) are signatures of transient reconnection at the dayside magnetopause, transporting flux from the dayside of the magnetosphere into the magnetotail lobes. They have previously been observed to contain a combination of magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma. On 12 February 2007, the four Cluster spacecraft were widely separated across the magnetopause and observed a crater-like FTE as they crossed the Earth's dayside magnetopause through its low-latitude boundary layer. The particle instruments on the Cluster spacecraft were in burst mode and returning data providing 3-D velocity distribution functions (VDFs) at 4 s resolution during the observation of this FTE. Moreover, the magnetic field observed during the event remained closely aligned with the spacecraft spin axis and thus we have been able to use these 3-D data to reconstruct nearly full pitch angle distributions of electrons and ions at high time resolution (up to 32 times faster than available from the normal mode data stream). These observations within the boundary layer and inside the core of the FTE show that both the interior and the surrounding structure of the FTE consist of multiple individual layers of plasma, in greater number than previously identified. Our observations show a cold plasma inside the core, a thin layer of antiparallel-moving electrons at the edge of FTE itself, and field-aligned ions with Alfvénic speeds at the trailing edge of the FTE. We discuss the plasma characteristics in these FTE layers, their possible relevance to the magnetopause reconnection processes and attempt to distinguish which of the various different FTE models may be relevant in this case. These data are particularly relevant given the impending launch of NASA's MMS mission, for which similar observations are expected to be more routine.

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Evidence for a flux transfer event generated by multiple X‐line reconnection at the magnetopause

Cited by 134 publications

References 20 publications

Magnetopause response to variations in the solar wind: Conjunction observations between Cluster, TC-1, and SuperDARN

Magnetopause response to variations in the solar wind: Conjunction observations between Cluster, TC-1, and SuperDARN

Establishing the Context for Reconnection Diffusion Region Encounters and Strategies for the Capture and Transmission of Diffusion Region Burst Data by MMS

Cluster observations of the substructure of a flux transfer event: analysis of high-time-resolution particle data

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