HR: 10:20h
AN: SM12A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Magnetic Reconnection at the Magnetopause Observed by the Four Cluster Spacecraft
AU: * Andre, M
EM: mats.andre@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE 751 21 Sweden
AU: Vaivads, A
EM: andris@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE 751 21 Sweden
AU: Retino, A
EM: alessandro.retino@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE 751 21 Sweden
AU: Khotyaintsev, Y
EM: yuri@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE 751 21 Sweden
AU: Buchert, S C
EM: scb@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE 751 21 Sweden
AU: Decreau, P
EM: pdecreau@cnrs-orleans.fr
AF: LPCE/CNRS, 3A, Ave. de la Recherche Scientifique, Orleans, F 450 71 France
AU: Cornilleau-Wehrlin, N
EM: nicole.cornilleau@cetp.ipsl.fr
AF: CETP, 10/12 Avenue de L'Europe, Velizy, F 781 40 France
AU: Pickett, J S
EM: pickett@uiowa.edu
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Van Allen Hall, Iowa City, AI 52242 United States
AU: Fazakerley, A N
EM: anf@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
AF: Mullard Space Science Lab, Holmbury, St. Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT United Kingdom
AB: Magnetic reconnection leads to energy conversion in large volumes in space but is initiated in small diffusion regions. Due to the small sizes of the diffusion regions, their crossings by spacecraft are rare. We report on Cluster observations of reconnection separatrices and diffusion regions. Separatrix regions can be highly structured down to Debye scale lengths at distances at least 50-100 ion inertial lengths away from the reconnection site. We discuss the relation between the separatrices extending from the diffusion region and the diffusion region itself.
DE: 2724 Magnetopause and boundary layers
DE: 2772 Plasma waves and instabilities (2471)
DE: 7811 Discontinuities (2109)
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection (2723, 7526)
DE: 7859 Transport processes
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005