Reconnection site and ion scale turbulence generation
- 1KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden (vaivads@kth.se)
- 2School of Space and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, China
- 3Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden
- 4Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA
- 5Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- 6Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
- 7Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Paris, France
- 8NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
- 9Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
We analyze in detail a reconnection site observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in the magnetotail. The interval around the X-line is identified based on the ion jet reversal, Hall electric fields and other reconnection signatures. At the reconnection site strong electric fields with amplitudes above 100mV/m are observed. In addition, the region shows strong turbulent variations on ion scales, including magnetic island-like structures. We discuss the cause of strong electric fields, their relation to ion scale structures and associated particle acceleration in this region. Of particular interest is the relation of the reconnection site to the generation of kinetic Alfven waves.
How to cite: Vaivads, A., Liu, C., Khotyaintsev, Y. V., Graham, D. B., Lindqvist, P.-A., Torbert, R. B., Burch, J. L., Russell, C. T., Contel, O. L., Giles, B. L., and Gershman, D. J.: Reconnection site and ion scale turbulence generation, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-11451, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-11451, 2020.
