The plume and spatial variations in reconnection along the dayside magnetopause (Invited)

We present simultaneous measurements from two THEMIS spacecraft at the dayside magnetopause separated by 1.5 hours in magnetic local time. One spacecraft measures a localized region of high density from the plasmaspheric plume while the other does not. Both spacecraft observe the signatures of magnetic reconnection, which provides a test for the changes to reconnection in local time along the magnetopause as well as the impact of high density on the reconnection process. When the plume is present, reconnection measured from jet velocities is less efficient. This shows that the plasmaspheric plume slows solar wind-magnetospheric coupling in a localized region during times when it contacts the magnetopause.