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Two‐Dimensional Velocity of the Magnetic Structure Observed on July 11, 2017 by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft
Author(s) -
Denton Richard E.,
Torbert Roy B.,
Hasegawa Hiroshi,
Genestreti Kevin J.,
Manuzzo Roberto,
Belmont Gerard,
Rezeau Laurence,
Califano Francesco,
Nakamura Rumi,
Egedal Jan,
Le Contel Olivier,
Burch James L.,
Gershman Daniel J.,
Dors Ivan,
Argall Matthew R.,
Russell Christopher T.,
Strangeway Robert J.,
Giles Barbara L.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1029/2020ja028705
Subject(s) - spacecraft , magnetometer , physics , magnetic field , computational physics , centroid , polynomial , magnetic reconnection , geodesy , reference frame , geophysics , frame (networking) , mathematical analysis , geometry , computer science , geology , mathematics , astronomy , telecommunications , quantum mechanics
In order to determine particle velocities and electric field in the frame of the magnetic structure, one first needs to determine the velocity of the magnetic structure in the frame of the spacecraft observations. Here, we demonstrate two methods to determine a two‐dimensional magnetic structure velocity for the magnetic reconnection event observed in the magnetotail by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft on July 11, 2017, Spatio‐Temporal Difference (STD) and the recently developed polynomial reconstruction method. Both of these methods use the magnetic field measurements; the reconstruction technique also uses the current density measured by the particle instrument. We find rough agreement between the results of our methods and with other velocity determinations previously published. We also explain a number of features of STD and show that the polynomial reconstruction technique is most likely to be valid within a distance of 2 spacecraft spacings from the centroid of the MMS spacecraft. Both of these methods are susceptible to contamination by magnetometer calibration errors.