Quasi-Steady Magnetotail Reconnection

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The investigators will study the role played by quasi-steady magnetotail reconnection in magnetospheric dynamics. Time-of-flight effects can produce distinctive particle signatures during reconnection, when plasma is introduced onto previously unpopulated field lines. Such indications of reconnection in the magnetotail are seen as velocity dispersed ion structures in data obtained by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites in low Earth orbit. There are three goals to the study. The first goal is to learn what controls quasi-steady reconnection in the magnetotail. The second goal is to examine the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling associated with velocity dispersed ion structures by characterizing their association with field-aligned currents. The third goal is to ascertain any correlation with bursty bulk flows in the magnetotail. The study will lead to a better understanding of how plasma enters the magnetosphere and how the entry process is manifested in ionospheric signatures.