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| Titel |
The azimuthal extent of three flux transfer events |
| VerfasserIn |
R. C. Fear, S. E. Milan, A. N. Fazakerley, E. A. Lucek, S. W. H. Cowley, I. Dandouras |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
0992-7689
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Annales Geophysicae ; 26, no. 8 ; Nr. 26, no. 8 (2008-08-05), S.2353-2369 |
| Datensatznummer |
250016194
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/angeo-26-2353-2008.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| In early 2006, the Cluster spacecraft crossed the dayside magnetopause twice
each orbit with the spacecraft at their largest separation of the entire
mission (~10 000 km). In this paper, we present in situ
observations at this separation size of flux transfer events (FTEs), which
are a signature of transient or time-varying magnetopause reconnection. We
study a magnetopause crossing on 27 January 2006; for half an hour, the
tetrahedron of Cluster spacecraft straddled the magnetopause and during this
time a large number of flux transfer events were observed. Three particular
FTEs were observed by all four spacecraft, enabling it to be shown that
individual FTEs at the magnetopause can extend azimuthally for at least
10 000 km. By combining the Cluster tetrahedron geometry with the
observed velocity of the FTEs, it can be shown that the poleward extent of
one FTE is significantly smaller than its azimuthal extent. The location of
the Cluster spacecraft when they observed this FTE suggests that it is
inconsistent with the simple interpretation of an "elbow-shaped" flux tube.
The FTE's azimuthal extent suggests that it was more likely generated at a
comparatively long reconnection line or lines, although the magnetic shear
across the magnetopause is not high enough to exclude the "elbow-shaped"
model entirely. |
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