Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS
Abstract New Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of small‐scale (~7 ion inertial length radius) flux transfer events (FTEs) at the dayside magnetopause are reported. The 10 km MMS tetrahedron size enables their structure and properties to be calculated using a variety of multispacecraft tec...
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| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2016-05-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068747 |
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| author | J. P. Eastwood T. D. Phan P. A. Cassak D. J. Gershman C. Haggerty K. Malakit M. A. Shay R. Mistry M. Øieroset C. T. Russell J. A. Slavin M. R. Argall L. A. Avanov J. L. Burch L. J. Chen J. C. Dorelli R. E. Ergun B. L. Giles Y. Khotyaintsev B. Lavraud P. A. Lindqvist T. E. Moore R. Nakamura W. Paterson C. Pollock R. J. Strangeway R. B. Torbert S. Wang |
| author_facet | J. P. Eastwood T. D. Phan P. A. Cassak D. J. Gershman C. Haggerty K. Malakit M. A. Shay R. Mistry M. Øieroset C. T. Russell J. A. Slavin M. R. Argall L. A. Avanov J. L. Burch L. J. Chen J. C. Dorelli R. E. Ergun B. L. Giles Y. Khotyaintsev B. Lavraud P. A. Lindqvist T. E. Moore R. Nakamura W. Paterson C. Pollock R. J. Strangeway R. B. Torbert S. Wang |
| author_sort | J. P. Eastwood |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract New Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of small‐scale (~7 ion inertial length radius) flux transfer events (FTEs) at the dayside magnetopause are reported. The 10 km MMS tetrahedron size enables their structure and properties to be calculated using a variety of multispacecraft techniques, allowing them to be identified as flux ropes, whose flux content is small (~22 kWb). The current density, calculated using plasma and magnetic field measurements independently, is found to be filamentary. Intercomparison of the plasma moments with electric and magnetic field measurements reveals structured non‐frozen‐in ion behavior. The data are further compared with a particle‐in‐cell simulation. It is concluded that these small‐scale flux ropes, which are not seen to be growing, represent a distinct class of FTE which is generated on the magnetopause by secondary reconnection. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8a6104dcd7d24bda97779a44cc548b11 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-05-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-8a6104dcd7d24bda97779a44cc548b112025-08-20T02:31:41ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-05-0143104716472410.1002/2016GL068747Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMSJ. P. Eastwood0T. D. Phan1P. A. Cassak2D. J. Gershman3C. Haggerty4K. Malakit5M. A. Shay6R. Mistry7M. Øieroset8C. T. Russell9J. A. Slavin10M. R. Argall11L. A. Avanov12J. L. Burch13L. J. Chen14J. C. Dorelli15R. E. Ergun16B. L. Giles17Y. Khotyaintsev18B. Lavraud19P. A. Lindqvist20T. E. Moore21R. Nakamura22W. Paterson23C. Pollock24R. J. Strangeway25R. B. Torbert26S. Wang27Blackett Laboratory Imperial College London London UKSpace Sciences Laboratory University of California Berkeley California USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy West Virginia University Morgantown West Virginia USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy University of Delaware Newark Delaware USADepartment of Physics Mahidol University Bangkok ThailandDepartment of Physics and Astronomy University of Delaware Newark Delaware USABlackett Laboratory Imperial College London London UKSpace Sciences Laboratory University of California Berkeley California USADepartment of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences University of California Los Angeles California USADepartment of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USAInstitute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space University of New Hampshire Durham New Hampshire USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USASouthwest Research Institute San Antonio Texas USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USASwedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala SwedenInstitut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie Université de Toulouse Toulouse FranceSchool of Electrical Engineering Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm SwedenNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USASpace Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz AustriaNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USADenali Scientific Healy Alaska USADepartment of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences University of California Los Angeles California USAInstitute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space University of New Hampshire Durham New Hampshire USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USAAbstract New Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of small‐scale (~7 ion inertial length radius) flux transfer events (FTEs) at the dayside magnetopause are reported. The 10 km MMS tetrahedron size enables their structure and properties to be calculated using a variety of multispacecraft techniques, allowing them to be identified as flux ropes, whose flux content is small (~22 kWb). The current density, calculated using plasma and magnetic field measurements independently, is found to be filamentary. Intercomparison of the plasma moments with electric and magnetic field measurements reveals structured non‐frozen‐in ion behavior. The data are further compared with a particle‐in‐cell simulation. It is concluded that these small‐scale flux ropes, which are not seen to be growing, represent a distinct class of FTE which is generated on the magnetopause by secondary reconnection.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068747magnetic reconnectionmagnetopauseflux ropesecondary islandmagnetospheric multiscale |
| spellingShingle | J. P. Eastwood T. D. Phan P. A. Cassak D. J. Gershman C. Haggerty K. Malakit M. A. Shay R. Mistry M. Øieroset C. T. Russell J. A. Slavin M. R. Argall L. A. Avanov J. L. Burch L. J. Chen J. C. Dorelli R. E. Ergun B. L. Giles Y. Khotyaintsev B. Lavraud P. A. Lindqvist T. E. Moore R. Nakamura W. Paterson C. Pollock R. J. Strangeway R. B. Torbert S. Wang Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS Geophysical Research Letters magnetic reconnection magnetopause flux rope secondary island magnetospheric multiscale |
| title | Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS |
| title_full | Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS |
| title_fullStr | Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS |
| title_short | Ion‐scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by MMS |
| title_sort | ion scale secondary flux ropes generated by magnetopause reconnection as resolved by mms |
| topic | magnetic reconnection magnetopause flux rope secondary island magnetospheric multiscale |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068747 |
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