observations

• Main Authors: F. Pitout, P. T. Newell, S. C. Buchert
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Svalbard; Svalbard Archipelago; EISCAT
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.592.6489; http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/32/92/73/PDF/angeo-20-1311-2002.pdf

Abstract. We present EISCAT Svalbard Radar and DMSP observations of a double cusp during an interval of predom-inantly northward IMF on 26 November 2000. In the cusp region, the ESR dish, pointing northward, recorded sun-ward ionospheric flow at high latitudes (above 82 ◦ GL), in-dicating reconnection occuring in the magnetospheric lobe. Meanwhile, the same dish also recorded bursts of poleward flow, indicative of bursty reconnection at the subsolar mag-netopause. Within this time interval, the DMSP F13 satel-lite passed in the close vicinity of the Svalbard archipelago. The particle measurement on board exhibited a double cusp structure in which two oppositely oriented ion dispersions are recorded. We interpret this set of data in terms of si-multaneous merging at low- and high-latitude magnetopause. We discuss the conditions for which such simultaneous high-latitude and low-latitude reconnection can be anticipated. We also discuss the consequences of the presence of two X-lines in the dayside polar ionosphere. Key words. Magnetospheric physics (solar wind-magneto-sphere interactions) – Ionosphere (polar ionosphere; plasma convection) 1