EGU22-3166
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3166
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Multiple Reconnection X-lines at the Magnetopause and Overlapping Cusp Ion Injections

Stephen Fuselier1,2, Craig Kletzing3, Steven Petrinec4, Karlheinz Trattner5, Don George1, Scott Bounds3, Rhyan Sawyer3, John Bonnell6, James Burch1, Barbara Giles7, and Robert Strangeway8
Stephen Fuselier et al.
  • 1Southwest Research Institute, Space Sciences and Engineering, San Antonio, United States of America (sfuselier@swri.edu, don.george@swri.org, JBurch@swri.edu)
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, United States of America (sfuselier@swri.edu)
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA (craig-kletzing@uiowa.edu, Scott-Bounds@uiowa.edu, rhyan-sawyer@uiowa.edu)
  • 4Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, USA (steven.m.petrinec@lmco.com)
  • 5Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, USA (karlheinz.trattner@lasp.colorado.edu)
  • 6Space Science Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA (jwbonnell@berkeley.edu)
  • 7NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, USA (barbara.giles@nasa.gov)
  • 8Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA (strange@igpp.ucla.edu)

Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations during an extended crossing of the Earth’s dayside magnetopause show evidence of multiple reconnection at the boundary. This crossing occurred when the IMF was southward and had a significant BY component. Approximately two hours after this crossing, the Twin Rocket Investigation of Cusp Electrodynamics-2 (TRICE-2) rockets were launched into the northern hemisphere cusp and observed overlapping cusp ion injections. These overlapping injections are also evidence of multiple reconnection at the magnetopause. While the observations more than 2 hours apart do not constitute a conjunction between the spacecraft and the rockets, the IMF conditions during the magnetopause crossing and the cusp traversal were very similar. Therefore, had the magnetopause crossings and cusp traversals occurred at the same time, the observations would have been similar. This talk describes these observations and shows the link between multiple reconnection at the magnetopause and overlapping cusp ion injections. In addition, the global consequences on the magnetosphere from this link are discussed.

How to cite: Fuselier, S., Kletzing, C., Petrinec, S., Trattner, K., George, D., Bounds, S., Sawyer, R., Bonnell, J., Burch, J., Giles, B., and Strangeway, R.: Multiple Reconnection X-lines at the Magnetopause and Overlapping Cusp Ion Injections, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3166, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3166, 2022.