Motion of the MMS Spacecraft Relative to the Magnetic Reconnection Structure Observed on 16 Oct 2015 at 1307 UT

Authors

Richard Denton, Dartmouth CollegeFollow
O. Sonnerup, Dartmouth College
H. Hasegawa, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan
D. Phan, University of California - Berkeley
C.T. Russell, University of California, Los Angeles
B.L. Giles, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
D. Gershman, University of Maryland at College Park
R.B. Torbert, University of New Hampshire, Durham

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-6-2016

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Department

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

We analyze a magnetopause crossing by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft at 1307 UT on 16 Oct 2016 that showed features of electron scale reconnection. For this event, we find orthonormal LMN coordinates from the magnetic field, with N and L varying respectively along the maximum gradient and maximum variance directions. We find the motion along N from the Spatio-Temporal Difference analysis and motion along L from measured particle velocities. We locate the position of the magnetic X point, finding that MMS-4 passed within about 1.4 km from the X point and that MMS-3 and MMS-2 passed within about 1.7 km and 2.4 km, respectively, from the position of maximum out of plane current.

DOI

10.1002/2016GL069214

Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation

Denton, Richard; Sonnerup, O.; Hasegawa, H.; Phan, D.; Russell, C.T.; Giles, B.L.; Gershman, D.; and Torbert, R.B., "Motion of the MMS Spacecraft Relative to the Magnetic Reconnection Structure Observed on 16 Oct 2015 at 1307 UT" (2016). Dartmouth Scholarship. 55.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/55