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| Titel |
The azimuthal scale of flux transfer events |
| VerfasserIn |
R. C. Fear, S. E. Milan, S. W. H. Cowley, E. A. Lucek, A. N. Fazakerley, I. Dandouras |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250023334
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Observations from previous satellite missions have allowed the scale size of flux transfer
events (FTEs) to be determined both normal to the magnetopause and in the direction of
motion of the FTE (polewards when the IMF is strongly southward). However, a key
difference between some different models of FTE structure is their azimuthal scale size,
which will also determine what proportion FTEs contribute to the the global reconnection
voltage. Whilst previous ground-based observations of the ionospheric signatures of FTEs
have indicated that magnetic reconnection can occur coherently over large extents of the
magnetopause, in situ determination of the azimuthal scale size of FTEs has not been possible
until recent Cluster magnetopause crossing seasons when the separation of the
spacecraft was ~10,000 km. In this talk, we present Cluster observations of flux
transfer events from 27th January 2006 and 27th March 2007. We find some FTEs
which extend further azimuthally than they do poleward, consistent with longer
X-line models of FTE formation, but also some more spatially limited structures. |
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