Reconnection Diffusion Regions Identified Using Magnetospheric Multiscale's Automated Burst Selection System

The MMS mission acquires high-time resolution data at rates that cannot be accommodated entirely by telemetry to the ground. Hence, it is necessary to select multiple 'burst' intervals, typically 10's of seconds each, for return of full resolution instrument data. The focus of the mission is on magnetic reconnection. To date, the mission has relied on a Scientist in the Loop (SITL) system, whereby scientists review low resolution (10 s) survey data and identify times when the spacecraft show some likelihood of having traversed the electron and ion diffusion regions. Other science targets are also selectable, but with lower priority, to ensure downlink of data from candidate diffusion regions. In addition to the SITL system, there is a tunable Automated Burst Selection system (ABS) that evaluates 10 s summary parameters computed by the scientific instruments and the Central Instrument Data Processor. Based on prior SITL selections, the ABS has now been tuned in an attempt to identify diffusion regions in the vicinity of the magnetopause and in the magnetotail. In this presentation we discuss the efficacy of the ABS for selection of such events in retrospective comparison with SITL selections, and we examine possible diffusion regions identified by the ABS.