Premium
Anatomy of a flux transfer event seen by Cluster
Author(s) -
Sonnerup B. U. Ö.,
Hasegawa H.,
Paschmann G.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl020134
Subject(s) - magnetopause , flux (metallurgy) , physics , rope , magnetic reconnection , event (particle physics) , cusp (singularity) , geophysics , spacecraft , current sheet , cluster (spacecraft) , astrophysics , magnetic field , magnetohydrodynamics , magnetosphere , geometry , astronomy , computer science , mathematics , materials science , metallurgy , algorithm , quantum mechanics , programming language
Data from Cluster are used to study the structure of a flux transfer event (FTE), seen near the northern cusp. We employ Grad‐Shafranov reconstruction, using measured fields from all four spacecraft to produce a map of the FTE cross section. The FTE consists of a flux rope of approximate size 1 R E and irregular shape, embedded in the magnetopause. Its axis is tangential to the magnetopause. Since no reconnection signatures are seen, the map provides a fossil record of the prior reconnection process that created the flux rope: the strong core field indicates that it was generated by component merging. An average reconnection electric field ≥0.18 mV/m must have occurred in the burst of reconnection that created the FTE. The total axial () current and magnetic flux in the FTE were −0.66 MAmp and +2.07 MWeber, respectively.