Measurement of Flow Across Magnetic Field Separatrix (ESU 90-77)

地球磁场与行星际磁场的联系方式是了解近地空间环境的一个有趣而重要的问题。来自极帽的磁力线在地磁纬度比分离矩阵更高的地方发射时，不会在地球的另一端关闭，而是与行星际磁场相连。质量和能量在这个边界上的流动产生了开放和封闭磁场线之间的质量和能量流动，并驱动了大部分磁层过程。所涉及的能量几乎全部来自太阳风。本项目旨在利用Sonderstrom非相干散射雷达的电离层观测资料，对各种地球物理条件下称为磁层重联率的重要相关现象进行大规模研究。研究人员已经开发出一种技术，显示出巨大的希望，允许测量等离子体流过分离矩阵，并从这个流量来确定重联率。

The way the magnetic field of the earth connects with the interplanetary magnetic field is an interesting and important problem for understanding the near-earth space environment. Field lines from the polar cap do not close at the opposite pole of the earth when they emanate from higher magnetic latitudes than a boundary called the separatrix, but rather connect with the interplanetary field. Flow of mass and energy across this boundary gives mass and evergy flow between open and closed field lines, and drives the majority of magnetospheric processes. The energy involved comes almost entirely from the solar wind. This projects seeks to initiate a large-scale study of an important related phenomenon called the magetospheric reconnection rate under a variety of geophysical conditions using ionospheric observations from the Sonderstrom incoherent scatter radar. The investigators have developed a technique that shows great promise of allowing the measurement of plasma flow across the separatrix, and from this flow to determine the reconnection rate.