American Geophysical Union Become an AGU Member
Subscribe to AGU Journals		 AGU Home AGU Publications

Read Full Article (file size: 702385 bytes)    Cited by

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 109, A03219, doi:10.1029/2003JA009975, 2004

Location of the reconnection line for northward interplanetary magnetic field

K. J. Trattner

Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, California, USA


S. A. Fuselier

Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, California, USA


S. M. Petrinec

Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, California, USA


Abstract

The interconnection of magnetic fields through magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause is the dominant process for mass, energy, and momentum transfers from the Earth's magnetosheath to the magnetosphere. Earlier studies on the location of the reconnection line during northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions and high solar wind dynamic pressure revealed an approximately equal probability for antiparallel and component reconnection between the IMF and the geomagnetic field. Using data from the Toroidal Imaging Mass Angle Spectrograph on the Polar spacecraft, we have substantially increased our survey, selecting only events with northward IMF but no restrictions on the solar wind dynamic pressure. The distance to the reconnection line is calculated using the proven method of three-dimensional cuts of the proton distribution function in the cusp to identify the low-velocity cutoffs of precipitating and mirrored ion populations. Antiparallel and component reconnections are identified by tracing this calculated distance to the reconnection site back along the geomagnetic field to the magnetopause, where the draped IMF is used to calculate the magnetopause shear angle. We find that both reconnection scenarios, antiparallel and component reconnections, occur for the same IMF conditions. The observation of either antiparallel or component reconnection depends entirely on the location of the observing spacecraft.

Received 4 April 2003; accepted 23 January 2004; published 27 March 2004.

Index Terms: 2724 Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers; 2716 Magnetospheric Physics: Energetic particles, precipitating; 2784 Magnetospheric Physics: Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions; 2731 Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetosphere—outer.

Read Full Article (file size: 702385 bytes)    Cited by

Citation: Trattner, K. J., S. A. Fuselier, and S. M. Petrinec (2004), Location of the reconnection line for northward interplanetary magnetic field, J. Geophys. Res., 109, A03219, doi:10.1029/2003JA009975.