Hosner, M;
Nakamura, R;
Schmid, D;
Nakamura, TKM;
Panov, EV;
Volwerk, M;
Vörös, Z;
... Fazakerley, AN; + view all
(2024)
Reconnection Inside a Dipolarization Front of a Diverging Earthward Fast Flow.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
, 129
(1)
, Article e2023JA031976. 10.1029/2023JA031976.
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Abstract
We examine a Dipolarization Front (DF) event with an embedded electron diffusion region (EDR), observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft on 08 September 2018 at 14:51:30 UT in the Earth's magnetotail by applying multi-scale multipoint analysis methods. In order to study the large-scale context of this DF, we use conjunction observations of the Cluster spacecraft together with MMS. A polynomial magnetic field reconstruction technique is applied to MMS data to characterize the embedded electron current sheet including its velocity and the X-line exhaust opening angle. Our results show that the MMS and Cluster spacecraft were located in two counter-rotating vortex flows, and such flows may distort a flux tube in a way that the local magnetic shear angle is increased and localized magnetic reconnection may be triggered. Using multi-point data from MMS we further show that the local normalized reconnection rate is in the range of R ∼ 0.16 to 0.18. We find a highly asymmetric electron in- and outflow structure, consistent with previous simulations on strong guide-field reconnection events. This study shows that magnetic reconnection may not only take place at large-scale stable magnetopause or magnetotail current sheets but also in transient localized current sheets, produced as a consequence of the interaction between the fast Earthward flows and the Earth's dipole field.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Reconnection Inside a Dipolarization Front of a Diverging Earthward Fast Flow |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2023JA031976 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2023ja031976 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | polynomial reconstruction, MMS, cluster, dipolarization front, magnetic reconnection |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185703 |
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