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Comment on 'Observations of reconnection of interplanetary and lobe magnetic field lines at the high-latitude magnetopause' by J.T. Gosling, M.F. Thomsen, S.J. Bame, R.C. Elphic, and C.T. RussellComment is presented on the results of measurements, reported by Gosling et al. (1991), that were made on ISEE in the vicinity of the high-latitude dusk magnetopause near the terminator plane, at a time when the local magnetosheath and tail lobe magnetic fields were nearly oppositely directed. The character of the observed plasma flowing both tailward and sunward within the high-latitude magnetopause current layer presented real evidence for the local reconnection process. Gosling et al. argued that this process may be a manifestation of different global magnetospheric topology structures. In the comment, a global magnetospheric convection pattern is constructed for the northward IMF and for the case of a large azimuthal component of the IMF with small Bz, irrespective of its sign. The suggested scheme provides a simple explanation for the observed sunward convection in the polar caps both for the northward and for strong By with small Bz. According to the present model, for the magnetosheath field at 2300 UT on June 11, 1978, the reconnection between the open field lines appears at the northern neutral point.
Document ID
19930049308
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Belen'kaia, Elena
(Moscow State Univ. Russia)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 98
Issue: A4
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
93A33305
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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