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The magnetopause and boundary layer for small magnetic shear: Convection electric fields and reconnection
Author(s) -
Paschmann G.,
Sonnerup B.,
Papamastorakis I.,
Baumjohann W.,
Sckopke N.,
Lühr H.
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/gl017i011p01829
Subject(s) - magnetopause , physics , geophysics , magnetic reconnection , boundary layer , convection , solar wind , magnetic field , electric field , computational physics , mechanics , quantum mechanics
Convection electric fields, E c = −V p ×B, measured during a magnetopause/boundary layer encounter at low latitude by the AMPTE/IRM spacecraft, are shown to yield an accurate determination of the magnetopause normal vector, N, even though the magnetic shear across the magnetopause was small. The average plasma velocity along N is used to deduce a boundary layer thickness of about 1.3 R E . Analysis of E c in the magnetopause itself reveals the existence of a deHoffmann‐Teller frame in which the flow is nearly field aligned and approximately Alfvénic, indicating that the magnetopause was a rotational discontinuity; this is interpreted as a signature that magnetic‐field reconnection was occurring somewhere on the magnetopause.