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Detailed Reference Information
Fuselier et al. 2005
Fuselier, S.A., Trattner, K.J., Petrinec, S.M., Owen, C.J. and Rème, H. (2005). Computing the reconnection rate at the Earth's magnetopause using two spacecraft observations. Journal of Geophysical Research 110: doi: 10.1029/2004JA010805. issn: 0148-0227.

A new multispacecraft technique is introduced which, under some restrictive assumptions and conditions, provides a snapshot of the reconnection inflow velocity into the magnetosphere and an estimate of the distance from the spacecraft to the reconnection site. The two quantities are not obtained independent of one another and additional, independent information is needed to separate them. This new technique is applied to Cluster spacecraft observations at the Earth's magnetopause. Additional Cluster observations and observations from the IMAGE spacecraft are used as independent information to provide an estimate of the distance from the spacecraft to the reconnection site for the event. From this distance estimate and the new multispacecraft technique, it is concluded that component reconnection was probably occurring at the magnetopause and that the local inflow velocity was significantly less than 0.1 VA.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Space Plasma Physics, Magnetic reconnection (2723, 7526), Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetopause and boundary layers, Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetosphere/ionosphere interactions, Magnetospheric Physics, Cusp, Space Plasma Physics, Particle acceleration, magnetic reconnection, cusp, magnetopause, particle acceleration, aurora, multispacecraft techniques
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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