Secondary magnetic reconnection at Earth's flank magnetopause
Abstract
The interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere is one of the most fundamental issues of magnetospheric physics, as it is key to understand various space weather phenomena. Although the framework of global plasma circulation in the magnetosphere has been established decades before, our understanding regarding to this process has been continuously improved, showing the complexity of the entire system. Here we report newly discovered secondary magnetic reconnection at Earth's flank magnetopause, where closed magnetic field lines in the magnetosphere reconnect with the open field lines, which are generated by the primary reconnection at dayside magnetopause, and then dragged to the flank region. We present evidence of the encounter of the electron diffusion region of reconnection, indicating a cross-scale process from a global scale to a small electron scale. The present secondary reconnection suggests a new pathway for the entry of the solar wind into geospace, providing an important modification to the classic magnetospheric plasma circulation.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMSM0200007T
- Keywords:
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- 2723 Magnetic reconnection;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS;
- 7526 Magnetic reconnection;
- SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY;
- 7835 Magnetic reconnection;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS