Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion region
Abstract The strength and time dependence of the electric field in a magnetopause diffusion region relate to the rate of magnetic reconnection between the solar wind and a planetary magnetic field. Here we use ~150 ms measurements of energetic electrons from the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, G...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2016-06-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069163 |
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| author | Daniel J. Gershman John C. Dorelli Gina A. DiBraccio Jim M. Raines James A. Slavin Gangkai Poh Thomas H. Zurbuchen |
| author_facet | Daniel J. Gershman John C. Dorelli Gina A. DiBraccio Jim M. Raines James A. Slavin Gangkai Poh Thomas H. Zurbuchen |
| author_sort | Daniel J. Gershman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The strength and time dependence of the electric field in a magnetopause diffusion region relate to the rate of magnetic reconnection between the solar wind and a planetary magnetic field. Here we use ~150 ms measurements of energetic electrons from the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft observed over Mercury's dayside polar cap boundary (PCB) to infer such small‐scale changes in magnetic topology and reconnection rates. We provide the first direct measurement of open magnetic topology in flux transfer events at Mercury, structures thought to account for a significant portion of the open magnetic flux transport throughout the magnetosphere. In addition, variations in PCB latitude likely correspond to intermittent bursts of ~0.3–3 mV/m reconnection electric fields separated by ~5–10 s, resulting in average and peak normalized dayside reconnection rates of ~0.02 and ~0.2, respectively. These data demonstrate that structure in the magnetopause diffusion region at Mercury occurs at the smallest ion scales relevant to reconnection physics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-94f8dfeab09040129c6100310403cbbd |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-94f8dfeab09040129c6100310403cbbd2025-08-20T03:10:24ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-06-0143125935594210.1002/2016GL069163Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion regionDaniel J. Gershman0John C. Dorelli1Gina A. DiBraccio2Jim M. Raines3James A. Slavin4Gangkai Poh5Thomas H. Zurbuchen6Department of Astronomy University of Maryland College Park Maryland USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USAClimate and Space Sciences and Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USAClimate and Space Sciences and Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USAClimate and Space Sciences and Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USAClimate and Space Sciences and Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USAAbstract The strength and time dependence of the electric field in a magnetopause diffusion region relate to the rate of magnetic reconnection between the solar wind and a planetary magnetic field. Here we use ~150 ms measurements of energetic electrons from the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft observed over Mercury's dayside polar cap boundary (PCB) to infer such small‐scale changes in magnetic topology and reconnection rates. We provide the first direct measurement of open magnetic topology in flux transfer events at Mercury, structures thought to account for a significant portion of the open magnetic flux transport throughout the magnetosphere. In addition, variations in PCB latitude likely correspond to intermittent bursts of ~0.3–3 mV/m reconnection electric fields separated by ~5–10 s, resulting in average and peak normalized dayside reconnection rates of ~0.02 and ~0.2, respectively. These data demonstrate that structure in the magnetopause diffusion region at Mercury occurs at the smallest ion scales relevant to reconnection physics.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069163reconnectionkinetic plasmaMercurypolar capflux transfer eventflux rope |
| spellingShingle | Daniel J. Gershman John C. Dorelli Gina A. DiBraccio Jim M. Raines James A. Slavin Gangkai Poh Thomas H. Zurbuchen Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion region Geophysical Research Letters reconnection kinetic plasma Mercury polar cap flux transfer event flux rope |
| title | Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion region |
| title_full | Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion region |
| title_fullStr | Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion region |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion region |
| title_short | Ion‐scale structure in Mercury's magnetopause reconnection diffusion region |
| title_sort | ion scale structure in mercury s magnetopause reconnection diffusion region |
| topic | reconnection kinetic plasma Mercury polar cap flux transfer event flux rope |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069163 |
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