HR: 09:30h
AN: SM11B-07 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Plasma Entry and Kelvin-Helmholtz Modes at the Flanks of the Magnetosphere
AU: * Otto, A
EM: ao@how.gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophysical Institute University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 903 Koyukuk Dr, Fairbanks, AK 99775, United States
AB: The physics of the magnetospheric boundaries is central to the transport of mass, energy, and momentum into magnetosphere. However, for northward IMF the transport of mass into the magnetosphere is not well understood. The two major models for plasma transport into the magnetosphere are cusp reconnection and reconnection within nonlinear Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) vortices. These transport mechanism have attracted much attention, however, related to KH modes much work has focused on two-dimensional dynamics. In three-dimensions the system has an additional degree of freedom which is important because in a 3D system the orientation k vectors of instabilities is not restricted to a two-dimensional plane. Specifically magnetic reconnection and KH modes do not have to operate in the same two-dimensional plane. Here we review the properties and the plasma transport associated with Kelvin-Helmholtz modes and magnetic reconnection for the flank boundaries of the magnetosphere in two and three dimensions. We will derive the associated mass diffusion coefficient and address aspects of the further transport of plasma in the magnetotail for northward IMF.
DE: 2723 Magnetic reconnection (7526, 7835)
DE: 2724 Magnetopause and boundary layers
DE: 2748 Magnetotail boundary layers
DE: 2752 MHD waves and instabilities (2149, 6050, 7836)
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting