Comparison of S3-3 polar cap potential drops with the interplanetary magnetic field and models of magnetopause reconnection

1983 ◽  
Vol 88 (A7) ◽  
pp. 5727 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Wygant ◽  
R. B. Torbert ◽  
F. S. Mozer
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Magnetopause Reconnection

scholarly journals The location and rate of dayside reconnection during an interval of southward interplanetary magnetic field

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1467-1482 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Pinnock ◽  
G. Chisham ◽  
I. J. Coleman ◽  
M. P. Freeman ◽  
M. Hairston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Reconnection Rate ◽  
Comprehensive Description ◽  
Total Potential ◽  
Radar Network ◽  
Dayside Magnetopause ◽  
Magnetic Field Model ◽  
Magnetopause Reconnection

Abstract. Using ionospheric data from the SuperDARN radar network and a DMSP satellite we obtain a comprehensive description of the spatial and temporal pattern of day-side reconnection. During a period of southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), the data are used to determine the location of the ionospheric projection of the dayside magnetopause reconnection X-line. From the flow of plasma across the projected X-line, we derive the reconnection rate across 7 h of longitude and estimate it for the total length of the X-line footprint, which was found to be 10 h of longitude. Using the Tsyganenko 96 magnetic field model, the ionospheric data are mapped to the magnetopause, in order to provide an estimate of the extent of the reconnection X-line. This is found to be ~ 38 RE in extent, spanning the whole dayside magnetopause from dawn to dusk flank. Our results are compared with previously reported encounters by the Equator-S and Geotail spacecraft with a reconnecting magnetopause, near the dawn flank, for the same period. The SuperDARN observations allow the satellite data to be set in the context of the whole magnetopause reconnection X-line. The total potential associated with dayside reconnection was ~ 150 kV. The reconnection signatures detected by the Equator-S satellite mapped to a region in the ionosphere showing continuous flow across the polar cap boundary, but the reconnection rate was variable and showed a clear spatial variation, with a distinct minimum at 14:00 magnetic local time which was present throughout the 30-min study period.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp and boundary layers; magnetosphere-ionoshere interactions) – Space plasma physics (magnetic reconnection)

scholarly journals Central polar cap convection response to short duration southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 887-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. T. Jayachandran ◽  
J. W. MacDougall
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Short Duration ◽  
Initial Response ◽  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Ionosphere Plasma ◽  
Rapid Transition ◽  
Convection Speed ◽  
A Chain

Abstract. Central polar cap convection changes associated with southward turnings of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) are studied using a chain of Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosondes (CADI) in the northern polar cap. A study of 32 short duration (~1 h) southward IMF transition events found a three stage response: (1) initial response to a southward transition is near simultaneous for the entire polar cap; (2) the peak of the convection speed (attributed to the maximum merging electric field) propagates poleward from the ionospheric footprint of the merging region; and (3) if the change in IMF is rapid enough, then a step in convection appears to start at the cusp and then propagates antisunward over the polar cap with the velocity of the maximum convection. On the nightside, a substorm onset is observed at about the time when the step increase in convection (associated with the rapid transition of IMF) arrives at the polar cap boundary.Key words: Ionosphere (plasma convection; polar ionosphere) - Magnetospheric physics (solar wind - magnetosphere interaction)

scholarly journals A new formulation for the ionospheric cross polar cap potential including saturation effects

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 3533-3547 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Ridley
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Mach Number ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Pressure Balance ◽  
Simple Modification ◽  
Post Shock ◽  
Cross Polar Cap Potential ◽  
New Formulation

Abstract. It is known that the ionospheric cross polar cap potential (CPCP) saturates when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz becomes very large. Few studies have offered physical explanations as to why the polar cap potential saturates. We present 13 events in which the reconnection electric field (REF) goes above 12mV/m at some time. When these events are examined as typically done in previous studies, all of them show some signs of saturation (i.e., over-prediction of the CPCP based on a linear relationship between the IMF and the CPCP). We show that by taking into account the size of the magnetosphere and the fact that the post-shock magnetic field strength is strongly dependent upon the solar wind Mach number, we can better specify the ionospheric CPCP. The CPCP (Φ) can be expressed as Φ=(10-4v2+11.7B(1-e-Ma/3)sin3(θ/2)) {rms/9 (where v is the solar wind velocity, B is the combined Y and Z components of the interplanetary magnetic field, Ma is the solar wind Mach number, θ=acos(Bz/B), and rms is the stand-off distance to the magnetopause, assuming pressure-balance between the solar wind and the magnetosphere). This is a simple modification of the original Boyle et al. (1997) formulation.

Digisonde measurements of polar cap convection for northward interplanetary magnetic field

1992 ◽  
Vol 97 (A11) ◽  
pp. 16877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul S. Cannon ◽  
Geoffrey Crowley ◽  
Bodo W. Reinisch ◽  
Jurgen Buchau
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Polar Cap

scholarly journals Northward interplanetary magnetic field cusp aurora and high-latitude magnetopause reconnection

1997 ◽  
Vol 102 (A6) ◽  
pp. 11349-11362 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Øieroset ◽  
P. E. Sandholt ◽  
W. F. Denig ◽  
S. W. H. Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Magnetopause Reconnection

scholarly journals Coordinated Cluster, ground-based instrumentation and low-altitude satellite observations of transient poleward-moving events in the ionosphere and in the tail lobe

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (10/12) ◽  
pp. 1589-1612 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lockwood ◽  
H. Opgenoorth ◽  
A. P. van Eyken ◽  
A. Fazakerley ◽  
J.-M. Bosqued ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Propagation Delay ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
F Region ◽  
Electrons And Ions ◽  
Transient Events ◽  
Low Energy Electron ◽  
Convection Patterns ◽  
Magnetopause Reconnection

Abstract. During the interval between 8:00–9:30 on 14 January 2001, the four Cluster spacecraft were moving from the central magnetospheric lobe, through the dusk sector mantle, on their way towards intersecting the magnetopause near 15:00 MLT and 15:00 UT. Throughout this interval, the EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) at Longyearbyen observed a series of poleward-moving transient events of enhanced F-region plasma concentration ("polar cap patches"), with a repetition period of the order of 10 min. Allowing for the estimated solar wind propagation delay of 75 ( ± 5) min, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) had a southward component during most of the interval. The magnetic footprint of the Cluster spacecraft, mapped to the ionosphere using the Tsyganenko T96 model (with input conditions prevailing during this event), was to the east of the ESR beams. Around 09:05 UT, the DMSP-F12 satellite flew over the ESR and showed a sawtooth cusp ion dispersion signature that also extended into the electrons on the equatorward edge of the cusp, revealing a pulsed magnetopause reconnection. The consequent enhanced ionospheric flow events were imaged by the SuperDARN HF backscatter radars. The average convection patterns (derived using the AMIE technique on data from the magnetometers, the EISCAT and SuperDARN radars, and the DMSP satellites) show that the associated poleward-moving events also convected over the predicted footprint of the Cluster spacecraft. Cluster observed enhancements in the fluxes of both electrons and ions. These events were found to be essentially identical at all four spacecraft, indicating that they had a much larger spatial scale than the satellite separation of the order of 600 km. Some of the events show a correspondence between the lowest energy magnetosheath electrons detected by the PEACE instrument on Cluster (10–20 eV) and the topside ionospheric enhancements seen by the ESR (at 400–700 km). We suggest that a potential barrier at the magnetopause, which prevents the lowest energy electrons from entering the magnetosphere, is reduced when and where the boundary-normal magnetic field is enhanced and that the observed polar cap patches are produced by the consequent enhanced precipitation of the lowest energy electrons, making them and the low energy electron precipitation fossil remnants of the magnetopause reconnection rate pulses.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (polar cap phenomena; solar wind – magnetosphere interactions; magnetosphere – ionosphere interactions)

scholarly journals Local influence of magnetosheath plasma beta fluctuations on magnetopause reconnection

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 1053-1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. V. Laitinen ◽  
Y. V. Khotyaintsev ◽  
M. André ◽  
A. Vaivads ◽  
H. Rème
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Scaling Law ◽  
Local Influence ◽  
Magnetic Fluctuations ◽  
Mirror Mode ◽  
Magnetopause Reconnection

Abstract. We present observations from two subsolar Cluster magnetopause crossings under southward interplanetary magnetic field and strong mirror mode fluctuations in the magnetosheath. In both events the reconnection outflow jets show strong variations on the timescale of one minute. We show that at least some of the recorded variations are truly temporal, not spatial. On the same timescale, mirror mode fluctuations appear as strong magnetic fluctuations in the magnetosheath next to the magnetopause. This suggests that mirror modes can cause the variations either through modulation of continuous reconnection or through triggering of bursty reconnection. Using a theoretical scaling law for asymmetric reconnection we show that modulation of reconnection at a single x-line can explain the observations of the first event. The second event cannot be explained by a single modulated x-line: there the evidence points to patchy and bursty reconnection.

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