Dayside Magnetopause Reconnection and Flux Transfer Events: BepiColombo Earth-Flyby

<p>BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury. The BepiColombo mission consists of two spacecraft, which are the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio). The mission made its first planetary flyby, which is the only Earth flyby, on 10 April 2020, during which several instruments collected measurements. In this study, we analyze MPO magnetometer (MAG) observations of Flux Transfer Events (FTEs) in the magnetosheath and the structure of the subsolar magnetopause near the  flow stagnation point. The magnetosheath plasma beta was high with a value of ~ 8 and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) was southward with a clock angle that decreased from ~ 100 degrees to ~ 150 degrees.  As the draped IMF became increasingly southward several of the flux transfer event (FTE)-type flux ropes were observed. These FTEs traveled southward indicating that the magnetopause X-line was located northward of the spacecraft, which is consistent with a dawnward tilt of the IMF. Most of the FTE-type flux ropes were in ion-scale, <10 s duration, suggesting that they were newly formed. Only one large-scale FTE-type flux rope, ~ 20 s, was observed. It was made up of two successive bipolar signatures in the normal magnetic field component, which is evidence of coalescence at a secondary reconnection site. Further analysis demonstrated that the dimensionless reconnection rate of the re-reconnection associated with the coalescence site was ~ 0.14. While this investigation was limited to the MPO MAG observations, it strongly supports a key feature of dayside reconnection discovered in the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, the growth of FTE-type flux ropes through coalescence at secondary reconnection sites.</p>

First Evidence of Flux Transfer Events Caused by Mangetosheath Jets

<p>Magnetosheath jets are local enhancements of dynamic pressure above the background level. Hietala et al. (2018) recently presented observational evidence of a jet collision with the magnetopause causing magnetic field line reconnection. In the present study, we show data which, for the first time, strongly indicates that magnetosheath jets can even create localized transient reconnection events, so-called flux transfer events (FTEs).</p><p>FTEs are commonly observed in cascades with an average separation time of 8-10 minutes, but may also appear as isolated events. Despite the fact that FTEs have gained major attraction during recent years, the formation process of FTEs is not yet fully understood. We showed in a recent statistical study (Kullen, Thor, and Karlsson; 2019) that isolated FTEs and FTE cascades occur during different IMF conditions and are differently distributed along the magnetopause. The results of the statistical study strongly suggest that the majority of the FTEs formed along the expected reconnection region for each respective IMF condition. However, for a subset of isolated FTEs, we proposed a different formation process. These events may have been caused by magnetosheath jets, as they occur during IMF conditions favorable for jet formation. Simulation results by Karimabadi et al. (2014) has shown that such a creation mechanism is possible. In his simulation, a magnetosheath jet collides with the magnetopause, creating an FTE.</p><p>In the present investigation, FTEs that may have been caused by magnetosheath jets were identified. To achieve this, we examined measurements from all four Cluster satellites, and searched for magnetosheath jets that appear in close proximity to FTEs listed in Wang et al. (2005)’s FTE list. Our results show that approximately 15% of isolated FTEs appear in the vicinity of jets. These FTEs are further examined based on IMF and location across the magnetopause. For two of the FTEs, the associated jet appears close to the magnetopause. We present a detailed data analysis of these two events and discuss a possible formation mechanism for the FTEs, as there is strong evidence that the two FTEs are indeed caused by jets.</p>

Minor Ion and Electron Characteristics within Magnetosheath Flux Transfer Events Observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

<p>Several dayside magnetosheath flux transfer events (FTEs) have been observed at high temporal resolution by the four-spacecraft MMS mission. In this study, we examine ion energy spectrograms, ion moments, and ion distribution functions for several long duration magnetosheath FTEs observed by MMS. For these cases, the spacecraft were positioned at similar locations (i.e., south of the equatorial plane, post-noon local time sector). The ion observations are placed in context with electron energy spectrograms parallel and anti-parallel to the observed magnetic field and the location of MMS relative to the predicted reconnection line location as determined from convected solar wind conditions. This combined set of observations provide important information on the formation, topologies, and evolution of FTEs.</p>

Mid-altitude cusp dynamics and properties during the IMF By dominated intervals

<p>Observations inside the cusp can be used as distant monitoring of the large-scale geometry and properties of the magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause. The recent modelling and observations of the cusp and flux transfer events in the vicinity of the magnetopause show that the reconnection can occur along the X-line extended over many hours of magnetic local time (MLT), comprising sites of both component and anti-parallel reconnection scenarios. Such observations are in contradiction to the statistical DMSP studies showing that the cusp is rather limited in magnetic local time with an average size 2.5 hours of MLT. Moreover, some past observations indicate that the cusp is moving in response to the changes of the IMF By component, suggesting that the cusp is formed due to anti-parallel reconnection along the X-line limited in MLT.</p><p>In this presentation we analyse several events of the mid-altitude cusp observations during the Cluster campaign when the satellites cross the cusp mainly along the longitude in a string-of-pearls configuration during an Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) configuration with a stable and dominant IMF By-component. During this particular Cluster orbit it was possible to define the dawn and dusk cusp boundaries and to study plasma parameters inside different parts of the cusp region. The observations will be discussed in terms of the cusp extension, cusp motion, and possible formation of the ‘double’ cusp structures. Finally, we will consider what these observations reveal about the large-scale reconnection geometry at the magnetopause.</p>

Flux Transfer Events are Made in Pairs

<p>Flux transfer events are transient magnetized plasma structures that are self-balancing, rope-like phenomena that appear when the interplanetary magnetic field is southward. Using measurements of particles and magnetic fields on the MMS spacecraft, we find that these structures contain magnetospheric energetic electrons in exactly half of their observations, independent of external conditions or locations. This implies that two flux ropes are created for each event, one connected to the magnetosphere and one not connected. We show that this dual nature occurs independent of solar wind properties and location of observation. These observations are consistent with a recent model of flux transfer event generation.</p>