HR: 1340h
AN: SM53B-0405    [Abstracts]
TI: Cluster Spacecraft Observations of Antiparallel and Component Magnetic Reconnection Close to the X-line at the High-Latitude Magnetopause
AU: * Retin\grave{o}, A
EM: alessandro.retino@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE- 75121 Sweden
AU: Vaivads, A
EM: andris@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE- 75121 Sweden
AU: Andr\acute{e}, M
EM: ma@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE- 75121 Sweden
AU: Khotyaintsev, Y
EM: yuri@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE- 75121 Sweden
AU: Bavassano-Cattaneo, M
EM: bice@ifsi.rm.cnr.it
AF: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario - CNR, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma, 00133 Italy
AU: Marcucci, M
EM: federica@ifsi.rm.cnr.it
AF: Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario - CNR, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma, 00133 Italy
AU: Buchert, S C
EM: scb@irfu.se
AF: Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, Uppsala, SE- 75121 Sweden
AU: Pickett, J S
EM: pickett@uiowa.edu
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy - University of Iowa, Van Allen Hall, Iowa City, IA 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: We present Cluster spacecraft observations of two magnetopause crossings close to a magnetic reconnection X-line. The crossings occur during the same event within a time interval of about 10 minutes. We interpret the first crossing as a component reconnection X-line crossing and the second crossing as an antiparallel reconnection X-line crossing. The crossings occur on the duskside high-latitude magnetopause tailward of the cusp under dominant northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B$_{Z}$ and variable IMF B$_{Y}$. That passages are close to the X-line is concluded from the reversals of the ion reconnection jets. A detailed analysis of the two crossings is done using high resolution data from field and particle instruments. We identify and describe different regions close to the X-line e.g. inflow region, outflow region and separatrices. We discuss the results of the observations in terms of differences between component and antiparallel reconnection at the high-latitude magnetopause and compare them with recent simulations of magnetic reconnection.
DE: 7811 Discontinuities
DE: 7835 Magnetic reconnection
DE: 7859 Transport processes
DE: 2724 Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers
DE: 2772 Plasma waves and instabilities
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting