HR: 0830h
AN: SM11C-1164    [PDF]
TI: Comparison of Dayside Reconnection Rate Measurements by HF and Incoherent Scatter Radar
AU: * Blanchard, G T
EM: gblanchard@selu.edu
AF: Southeastern Louisiana University, Department of Chemistry and Physics SLU 10878, Hammond, LA 70402-0878 United States
AU: Baker, K B
EM: kbaker@nsf.gov
AF: National Science Foundation, Division of Atmospheric Sciences 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230 United States
AB: There are currently two techniques used to remotely sense magnetospheric reconnection using ground based radar. One technique uses High Frequency (HF) radar. The other uses incoherent scatter (IS) radar. In both cases, the reconnection rate is determined from the F-region plasma velocity in the rest frame of the separatrix. However, the identification of the separatrix and the measurement of the plasma velocity are based on physically different phenomena. Thus the two techniques produce independent measurements of the reconnection rate. In this study, we compare reconnection rate measurements made by the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network and the Sondrestrom IS Radar on four separate dates to determine the accuracy of the reconnection rate measurements. The previously reported finding that the position of the separatrix is poorly correlated between the two instruments when the reconnection rate is high is borne out by this study. However, we will also show that the reconnection rate is well correlated between the two instruments due to the high correlation in the plasma velocity measurements.
DE: 2411 Electric fields (2712)
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
DE: 2794 Instruments and techniques
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting