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IMP‐8 observations of traveling compression regions: New evidence for near‐Earth plasmoids and neutral lines
Author(s) -
Slavin J. A.,
Lepping R. P.,
Baker D. N.
Publication year - 1990
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/gl017i007p00913
Subject(s) - substorm , plasmoid , physics , magnetic reconnection , geophysics , compression (physics) , plasma sheet , astrophysics , magnetic field , magnetosphere , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
An examination of IMP‐8 tail lobe magnetic field measurements has been conducted to determine whether the traveling compression region (TCR) phenomena detected by ISEE‐3 in the distant geotail, and believed to be caused by tailward moving plasmoids, are present closer to the earth. The study produced 16 examples of TCRs at distances of X = −31 to −37 R E . For two events considered in detail TCRs were observed in close association with substorm growth phase signatures in the lobes. The lengths of these TCRs are estimated to be 8–12 R E . It is our conclusion that the IMP‐8 TCR observations provide new evidence that small plasmoids and, hence, multiple reconnection neutral lines can exist earthward of X = −35 R E .