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Ion-Scale Secondary Flux Ropes Generated by Magnetopause Reconnection as Resolved by MMSNew Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of small-scale (approx. 7 ion inertial length radius) flux transfer events (FTEs) at the dayside magnetopause are reported. The 1O km MMS tetrahedron size enables their structure and properties to be calculated using a variety of multispacecraft techniques, allowing them to be identified as flux ropes, whose flux content is small (approx. 22 kWb).The current density, calculated using plasma and magnetic field measurements independently, is found to be filamentary. lntercomparison of the plasma moments with electric and magnetic field measurements reveals structured non-frozen-in ion behavior. The data are further compared with a particle-in-cell simulation. It is concluded that these small-scale flux ropes, which are not seen to be growing, represent a distinct class of FTE which is generated on the magnetopause by secondary reconnection.
Document ID
20170003552
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Eastwood, J. P.
(Imperial Coll. of London London, United Kingdom)
Phan, T. D.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Cassak, P. A.
(West Virginia Univ. Morgantown, WV, United States)
Gershman, D. J.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Haggerty, C.
(Delaware Univ. Newark, DE, United States)
Malakit, K.
(Mahidol Univ. Bangkok, Thailand)
Shay, M. A.
(Delaware Univ. Newark, DE, United States)
Mistry, R.
(Imperial Coll. of London London, United Kingdom)
Oieroset, M.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Russell, C. T.
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Dorelli, J. C.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Giles, B. L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Moore, T. E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Paterson, W.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
April 17, 2017
Publication Date
May 18, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher: American Geophysical Union
Volume: 43
Issue: 10
ISSN: 0094-8276
e-ISSN: 1944-8007
Subject Category
Numerical Analysis
Geophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN41306
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11PL02A
CONTRACT_GRANT: AGS-1219382
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX16AF75G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX13AD72G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX08AO83G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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