Open AccessOn analyses of satellite ion scale reconnection data
Author(s) -
Mozer F. S.,
Cully C. M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2007ja012652
Subject(s) - current sheet , physics , magnetic reconnection , plasma sheet , current (fluid) , satellite , rest frame , reference frame , vortex sheet , geodesy , frame (networking) , mechanics , magnetosphere , magnetohydrodynamics , astrophysics , vortex , geology , vorticity , astronomy , plasma , computer science , telecommunications , redshift , quantum mechanics , galaxy , thermodynamics
Analyses of satellite‐measured fields and flows through reconnecting current sheets have assumed that the relative velocity of the satellite and the current sheet is in the direction of the current sheet normal. During analyses, this relative normal velocity has been removed by translation of the satellite data. The assumption that the relative motion is along the normal may be invalid such that, in the satellite reference frame, the reconnection structure moves in the plane of the current sheet during the crossing. In this case, the fields and flows are not measured in the reconnection rest frame although they must be known in this frame for quantitative analyses of the reconnection data. Consequences of this slippage of the reconnection rest frame in the plane of the current sheet are investigated to show that errors may be large and that rotation (minimum variance, maximum variance, or Faraday Residue) or translation (to the normal incidence frame, the deHoffman‐Teller frame, etc.) can exacerbate them. It is often the case that little can be done to guarantee a meaningful event analysis because of the insufficiency of the data collected in single satellite crossings of a reconnecting current sheet.