HR: 11:35h
AN: SM31E-06    [PDF]
TI: Wind Observations of Asymmetric Magnetic Reconnection in the Distant Magnetotail
AU: * \Oieroset, M
EM: oieroset@ssl.berkeley.edu
AF: Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 United States
AU: Phan, T D
EM: phan@ssl.berkeley.edu
AF: Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 United States
AU: Fujimoto, M
EM: fujimoto@geo.titech.ac.jp
AF: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, 152 Japan
AU: Lin, R P
EM: rlin@ssl.berkeley.edu
AF: Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 United States
AB: Unlike dayside magnetopause reconnection, reconnection in the magnetotail is usually considered to be symmetric, involving the southern and northern lobes with similar plasma and field properties. The reconnection layer with such symmetric boundary conditions consists of a pair of slow shocks that compress, heat and accelerate the incoming (lobe) plasmas. The resulting outflow plasma jets are typically sub-Alfvenic. Here we report observations of asymmetric reconnection in the distant tail (at X$_{GSE}\sim -90$ R$_E$) between a nearly empty lobe and one that is loaded with plasma (the mantle). Such conditions occur when the IMF B$_y$ component is large. This asymmetric reconnection configuration is somewhat similar to the dayside magnetopause. The observed reconnection jet is Alfvenic and the plasma density in the outflow region (the plasma sheet) is intermediate between those of the lobe and the mantle.
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2744 Magnetotail
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting