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Overlapping cusp ion injections: An explanation invoking magnetopause reconnection
Author(s) -
Lockwood M.
Publication year - 1995
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 - 10.1029/95gl00811
Subject(s) - magnetopause , cusp (singularity) , magnetic reconnection , physics , field line , magnetosphere , geophysics , acceleration , field (mathematics) , ion , line of force , astrophysics , computational physics , magnetic field , classical mechanics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics
An explanation of overlapping cusp ion injections is presented using the pulsating cusp model of the effects of magnetopause reconnection. It is shown that two populations of cusp ions, covering separated energy ranges, can be seen simultaneously by low‐ or mid‐altitude satellites because of the combined effect of the acceleration and the straightening of newly‐opened field lines as they evolve away from the reconnection site. Observations of such signatures, recently reported in data from the Viking and Freja satellites, are discussed in terms of pulsed and steady reconnection.