Observations of the Motion of X Line on the Dayside Magnetopause
Abstract
Various observations from satellites have shown that reconnection X line should be stable at a fixed position at low latitude of magnetosphere during stable southward IMF conditions. On the contrary, there are also events demonstrated that reconnection X line can move, which is rare but particular important. The direction of the motion of X line has been presumed along the electron diamagnetic drift direction on the dayside magnetopause. However, we discovered a case that the X line moved in the ion diamagnetic drift direction, which is opposite to electron diamagnetic direction. The result is reasonable because the fluid velocity that convect field lines is mainly determined by ions' velocity instead of electrons' velocity, thus the direction of the motion of X line is decided by ions. We analyzed the event of single X line crossing Cluster 1 and Cluster 3 satellites sequentially on the magnetopause, and found that the direction of the moving X line is in the ion diamagnetic drift and the magnitude of that is the sum of the ion and electron diamagnetic drift in the electron rest frame.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMSM21A2425Z
- Keywords:
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- 2723 Magnetic reconnection;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICSDE: 2724 Magnetopause and boundary layers;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICSDE: 2728 Magnetosheath;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICSDE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS