Coordinated Cluster and ground-based instrument observations of transient changes in the magnetopause boundary layer during an interval of predominantly northward IMF: relation to reconnection pulses and FTE signatures

• Main Authors: Lockwood, M., Fazakerley, A., Opgenoorth, H., Moen, J., van Eyken, A. P., Dunlop, M., Bosqued, J.-M., Lu, G., Cully, C., Eglitis, P., Mccrea, I. W., Hapgood, M. A., Wild, M. N., Stamper, R., Denig, W., Taylor, M., Wild, J. A., Provan, G., Amm, O., Kauristie, K., Pulkkinen, T., Strømme, A., Prikryl, P., Pitout, F., Balogh, A., Rème, H., Behlke, R., Hansen, T., Greenwald, R., Frey, H., Morley, S. K., Alcaydé, D., Blelly, P.-L., Donovan, E., Engebretson, M., Lester, M., Watermann, J., Marcucci, M. F.
• Other Authors: Solar Terrestrial Physics Division, Department of Space Science and Technology, School of Physics and Astronomy Southampton, University of Southampton, Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), University College of London London (UCL), IRF, Department of Physics Oslo, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Oslo, University of Oslo (UiO)-University of Oslo (UiO), EISCAT Scientific Association, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements (CESR), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), High Altitude Observatory (HAO), National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder (NCAR), University of Calgary, AFRL Hanscom Research Base (AFB), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), United States Air Force (USAF)-United States Air Force (USAF), Department of Physics and Astonomy, Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), University of Tromsø (UiT), Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC), Remote Sensing Group, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, MD (APL), Space Science Centre, Department of Physics Minneapolis, Augsburg College, Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2001
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Svalbard; Lockwood; EISCAT
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00329218; https://hal.science/hal-00329218/document; https://hal.science/hal-00329218/file/angeo-19-1613-2001.pdf

International audience We study a series of transient entries into the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) of all four Cluster spacecraft during an outbound pass through the mid-afternoon magnetopause ( [ XGSM, YGSM, ZGSM ] ˜ [ 2, 7, 9 ] R E ). The events take place during an interval of northward IMF, as seen in the data from the ACE satellite and lagged by a propagation delay of 75 min that is welldefined by two separate studies: (1) the magnetospheric variations prior to the northward turning (Lockwood et al., 2001, this issue) and (2) the field clock angle seen by Cluster after it had emerged into the magnetosheath (Opgenoorth et al., 2001, this issue). With an additional lag of 16.5 min, the transient LLBL events correlate well with swings of the IMF clock angle (in GSM) to near 90°. Most of this additional lag is explained by ground-based observations, which reveal signatures of transient reconnection in the pre-noon sector that then take 10–15 min to propagate eastward to 15 MLT, where they are observed by Cluster. The eastward phase speed of these signatures agrees very well with the motion deduced by the cross-correlation of the signatures seen on the four Cluster spacecraft. The evidence that these events are reconnection pulses includes: transient erosion of the noon 630 nm (cusp/cleft) aurora to lower latitudes; transient and travelling enhancements of the flow into the polar cap, imaged by the AMIE technique; and poleward-moving events moving into the polar cap, seen by the EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR). A pass of the DMSP-F15 satellite reveals that the open field lines near noon have been opened for some time: the more recently opened field lines were found closer to dusk where the flow transient and the poleward-moving event intersected the satellite pass. The events at Cluster have ion and electron characteristics predicted and observed by Lockwood and Hapgood (1998) for a Flux Transfer Event (FTE), with allowance for magnetospheric ion reflection at Alfvénic disturbances in the magnetopause ...