HR: 0800h
AN: SM51C-0392    [Abstracts]
TI: Successive crossings of magnetic island structure at dusk side magnetopause observed by a single spacecraft
AU: * Teh, W
EM: waileong@jupiter.ss.ncu.edu.tw
AF: Institute of Space Science, National Central University, Jhongli, 320 Taiwan
AU: Hau, L
EM: lnhau@jupiter.ss.ncu.edu.tw
AF: Institute of Space Science, National Central University, Jhongli, 320 Taiwan
AB: In a recent paper we reported the observational evidence for magnetic island structures at dawn and dusk side magnetopause based on the analysis of AMPTE/IRM plasma and magnetic field data and solving the Grad-Shafranov equation as a spatial initial value problem [Teh and Hau, EPS, 56, 681, 2004]. The dusk side event occurring on August 8, 1985 displays great similarities with the dawn side event of October 19, 1984 in that the reconstructed two-dimensional magnetic field maps involve a series of plasmoids with island width of about 500 km separated by the X lines. Both events are associated with multiple magnetopause crossings and occur when the in-and-out magnetopause motion finally subsides. We have recently found that one of the thirteen crossings prior to the reported dusk event also shows the unique feature of a series of pearl-like magnetic islands imbedded within the magnetopause current layer. The two successive crossings have nearly the same magneotopause normal and deHoffmann-Teller velocity and also with the same island width and aspect ratio.
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection
DE: 7871 Waves and instabilities
DE: 2724 Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting