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Ann. Geophys., 23, 2889-2895, 2005
www.ann-geophys.net/23/2889/2005/
© European Geosciences Union 2005

Double Star TC-1 observations of component reconnection at the dayside magnetopause: a preliminary study

Pu^1,3, Xiao², Zhang¹, Huang¹, Fu¹, Liu³, Dunlop⁴, Zong⁵, Carr⁶, Réme⁷, Dandouras⁷, Fazakerley⁸, Phan⁹, Zhang¹⁰, Zhang¹, and Wang^11
1School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
²National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100012, China
³Center for Space Science and Applied Research, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
⁴Space Science and Technology Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QX, UK
⁵Center for Space Physics, Boston University, Boston, Mass 02215, USA
⁶SAPG, The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ, UK
⁷Centre d’Etudes Spatiale des Rayonnements, BP 4346, 31028 Toulouse cedex 4, France
⁸Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
⁹Space Science Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94720, USA100080, China
¹⁰Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, OAW, Graz, A-8010, Austria
¹¹Center for Plasma Physics, Dalian Univerity of Science and Technology, Dalian 116024, China

Abstract. In spring 2004 Double Star TC-1 measured a number of reconnection signatures at the dayside low-latitude magnetopause (MP) when there was a notable B_y component in the magnetosheath. In a number of events we can show that reconnection was operating nearby TC-1 in the subsolar MP region. In this paper we describe three representative events: (a) event on 21 March 2004 in which the reconnection site can be remotely monitored, the spacecraft was passing by the X-line; (b) event on 12 March 2004 in which TC-1 observed the magnetospheric part of the quadrupolar field, together with a consistent flow reversal; (c) event on 26 March 2004 which occurred for northward IMF, TC-1 observed a reversal of v_y across the equatorial MP. In these events the shear angles across the MP were considerably smaller than 180°; a noticeable guide field was present. These observations are consistent with near equatorial component merging, suggesting that component reconnection preferably occurs at the dayside low-latitude MP. There is evidence that when a pronounced magnetic shear across the MP exists in the B_y component, reconnection may operate at the dayside low-latitude MP for northward IMF B_z.

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Citation: Pu, , Xiao, , Zhang, , Huang, , Fu, , Liu, , Dunlop, , Zong, , Carr, , Réme, , Dandouras, , Fazakerley, , Phan, , Zhang, , Zhang, , and Wang, : Double Star TC-1 observations of component reconnection at the dayside magnetopause: a preliminary study, Ann. Geophys., 23, 2889-2895, 2005.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager