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Ann. Geophys., 20, 1311-1320, 2002
www.ann-geophys.net/20/1311/2002/
© European Geosciences Union 2002
Simultaneous high- and low-latitude reconnection: ESR and DMSP observations
F. Pitout1,2, P. T. Newell3, and S. C. Buchert1
1Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, 751 21 Uppsala, Sweden
2Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, 9 avenue du Colonel Roche, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
3John Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 John Hopkins Road, Laurel MD – 20723–6099, USA
Correspondence to: F. Pitout (fp@irfu.se)
Abstract. We present EISCAT
Svalbard Radar and DMSP observations of a double cusp during an interval of
predominantly northward IMF on 26 November 2000. In the cusp region, the ESR
dish, pointing northward, recorded sun-ward ionospheric flow at high latitudes
(above 82° GL), indicating reconnection occuring in the magnetospheric lobe.
Meanwhile, the same dish also recorded bursts of poleward flow, indicative of
bursty reconnection at the subsolar magnetopause. Within this time interval,
the DMSP F13 satellite passed in the close vicinity of the Svalbard
archipelago. The particle measurement on board exhibited a double cusp
structure in which two oppositely oriented ion dispersions are recorded. We
interpret this set of data in terms of simultaneous merging at low- and
high-latitude magnetopause. We discuss the conditions for which such
simultaneous high-latitude and low-latitude reconnection can be anticipated. We
also discuss the consequences of the presence of two X-lines in the dayside
polar ionosphere.
Key words. Magnetospheric physics (solar wind-magnetosphere
interactions) – Ionosphere (polar ionosphere; plasma
convection)
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