EGU2020-3699
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3699
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Local kinetic processes determining macroscopic properties of interlinked magnetic flux tubes

Kyoung-joo Hwang1, Jim Burch1, Christopher Russell2, Eunjin Choi1, Kyunghwan Dokgo1, Robert Fear3, Stephen Fuselier1, Steve Petrinec4, David Sibeck5, Hiroshi Hasegawa6, Huishan Fu7, Marit Øieroset8, Philippe Escoubet9, Barbara Giles5, Robert Strangeway2, Yuri Khotyaintsev10, Daniel Graham10, Daniel Gershman5, Craig Pollock11, Robert Ergun12, and the MMS science working group*
Kyoung-joo Hwang et al.
  • 1Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America (kyoung-joo.hwang@nasa.gov, JBurch@swri.edu, jinsfra@gmail.com, kyunghwan.dokgo@swri.org, stephen.fuselier@swri.org)
  • 2Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA (ctrussel@igpp.ucla.edu, strangeway@igpp.ucla.edu)
  • 3University of Southampton, Southampton, UK (R.C.Fear@soton.ac.uk)
  • 4Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (petrinec@lmsal.com)
  • 5NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA (david.g.sibeck@nasa.gov, barbara.giles@nasa.gov, daniel.j.gershman@nasa.gov)
  • 6Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan (hase@stp.isas.jaxa.jp)
  • 7School of Science and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, China (huishanf@gmail.com)
  • 8Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (oieroset@berkeley.edu)
  • 9European Space Agency, Netherland (philippe.escoubet@esa.int)
  • 10Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden (yuri@irfu.se, dgraham@irfu.se)
  • 11Denali Scientific, LLC, Fairbanks, AK, USA (craig@denaliscientific.org)
  • 12Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA (bob.ergun@lasp.colorado.edu)
  • *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract

One of the most important transient phenomena affecting the solar wind-Earth’s magnetosphere coupling is non-steady dayside magnetic reconnection, observationally evidenced by a transient structure consisting of a bipolar magnetic-field component normal to the magnetopause. This signature, termed a flux-transfer-event (FTE), has been recently found to often consist of two interlinked flux tubes. The recent observations, particularly from the MMS spacecraft, showed a reconnecting current sheet between the interlaced flux tubes. However, local kinetic processes between the flux tubes have not been understood in the context of the broader FTE structure and evolution. An FTE observed by MMS on 18 December, 2017 comprised two flux tubes of different topology. One includes field lines with their ends connected to the northern and southern hemispheres while the other includes field lines that are connected to the magnetosheath (and ultimately the Sun). Evidence for reconnection occurring at the interface of the two flux tubes indicates how interacting flux tubes evolve into a flux rope having helical magnetic topology connecting either both to the Earth or being completely open. This study proposes a new aspect of how micro-to-meso-scale dynamics occurring within FTEs determines the macroscale characteristics and evolution of the structures.

MMS science working group:

Above authors together with Roy Torbert (roy.torbert@unh.edu)13 and Jef Broll (jbroll@bu.edu)14

How to cite: Hwang, K., Burch, J., Russell, C., Choi, E., Dokgo, K., Fear, R., Fuselier, S., Petrinec, S., Sibeck, D., Hasegawa, H., Fu, H., Øieroset, M., Escoubet, P., Giles, B., Strangeway, R., Khotyaintsev, Y., Graham, D., Gershman, D., Pollock, C., and Ergun, R. and the MMS science working group: Local kinetic processes determining macroscopic properties of interlinked magnetic flux tubes, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-3699, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3699, 2020

Displays

Display file