HR: 0800h
AN: SM21A-0462    [Abstracts]
TI: On the role of O+ on Magnetic Reconnection in the Earth's Magnetotail: a comparison between CLUSTER observations and simulation results
AU: * Mouikis, C
EM: chris.mouikis@unh.edu
AF: Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire 39 College Rd, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: Kistler, L
EM: kistler@atlas.sr.unh.edu
AF: Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire 39 College Rd, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: Shay, M
EM: shay@glue.umd.edu
AF: Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland College Park, Maryland, MD 20742 United States
AU: Klecker, B
EM: berndt.klecker@mpe.mpg.de
AF: MPE, Garching, Garching, D-85741 Germany
AU: Reme, H
EM: henri.reme@cesr.fr
AF: CESR, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, Toulouse, 31028 France
AU: Dandouras, I
EM: Iannis.Dandouras@cesr.fr
AF: CESR, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, Toulouse, 31028 France
AB: The CLUSTER mission has provided a considerable number of in-situ observations of the formation of an X-line in the mid-tail region of the Earth's magnetotail. From these observations it has become evident that there are time periods where heavy ion density (mainly O+ of ionospheric origin) exceeds that of the protons. How does the higher mass density of O+ affect the reconnection process in the Earth's magnetotail? In this study we use observations from the CLUSTER/CIS ion composition instrument and we compare those with results from three-fluid simulations in order to identify the observational signatures of the role of O+ in the reconnection process.
DE: 2744 Magnetotail
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
DE: 2788 Storms and substorms
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting