Тип публикации: статья из журнала
Год издания: 1996
Ключевые слова: high-latitude reconnecting, high-latitude reconnection, Northward IMF, Hawkeye observations, solar wind magnetosphere interaction, IMF direction, Interplanetary magnetic field, Magnetopause, sunward flowing protons, tangential momentum balance, magnetic field shear, rotational discontinuity, flow direction.
Аннотация: Reconnection is accepted as an important process for driving the solar wind/magnetospheric interaction although it is not fully understood. In particular, reconnection for northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) at high-latitudes tailward of the cusp, has received little attention in comparison with equatorial reconnection foПоказать полностьюr southward IMF. Using Hawkeye data the authors present the first direct observations of reconnection at the high-latitude magnetopause (75deg) during northward IMF in the form of sunward flowing protons. This flow is nearly field aligned, approximately Alfvenic, and roughly obeys tangential momentum balance. The magnetic field shear is large at the magnetopause and there is a non-zero BN component suggesting the existence of a rotational discontinuity and reconnection. The Hawkeye observations support several recent simulations at least qualitatively in terms of flow directions expected for high-latitude reconnection during northward IMF..
Журнал: Geophysical Research Letters
Выпуск журнала: Т. 23, № 5
Номера страниц: 583-586
ISSN журнала: 00948276
Издатель: American Geophysical Union