Geophysical Research Letters (Jun 2016)
Electron scale structures and magnetic reconnection signatures in the turbulent magnetosheath
- E. Yordanova,
- Z. Vörös,
- A. Varsani,
- D. B. Graham,
- C. Norgren,
- Yu. V. Khotyaintsev,
- A. Vaivads,
- E. Eriksson,
- R. Nakamura,
- P.‐A. Lindqvist,
- G. Marklund,
- R. E. Ergun,
- W. Magnes,
- W. Baumjohann,
- D. Fischer,
- F. Plaschke,
- Y. Narita,
- C. T. Russell,
- R. J. Strangeway,
- O. Le Contel,
- C. Pollock,
- R. B. Torbert,
- B. J. Giles,
- J. L. Burch,
- L. A. Avanov,
- J. C. Dorelli,
- D. J. Gershman,
- W. R. Paterson,
- B. Lavraud,
- Y. Saito
Affiliations
- E. Yordanova
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Sweden
- Z. Vörös
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- A. Varsani
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- D. B. Graham
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Sweden
- C. Norgren
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Sweden
- Yu. V. Khotyaintsev
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Sweden
- A. Vaivads
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Sweden
- E. Eriksson
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Sweden
- R. Nakamura
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- P.‐A. Lindqvist
- Space and Plasma Group Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm Sweden
- G. Marklund
- Space and Plasma Group Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm Sweden
- R. E. Ergun
- Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado USA
- W. Magnes
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- W. Baumjohann
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- D. Fischer
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- F. Plaschke
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- Y. Narita
- Space Research Institute Austrian Academy of Sciences Graz Austria
- C. T. Russell
- Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics University of California Los Angeles USA
- R. J. Strangeway
- Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics University of California Los Angeles USA
- O. Le Contel
- Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/UPMC/Univ. Paris Sud/Obs. de Paris Paris France
- C. Pollock
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA
- R. B. Torbert
- Southwest Research Institute San Antonio Texas USA
- B. J. Giles
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA
- J. L. Burch
- Southwest Research Institute San Antonio Texas USA
- L. A. Avanov
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA
- J. C. Dorelli
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA
- D. J. Gershman
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA
- W. R. Paterson
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USA
- B. Lavraud
- IRAP CNRS Toulouse France
- Y. Saito
- JAXA Tokyo Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl069191
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 43,
no. 12
pp. 5969 – 5978
Abstract
Abstract Collisionless space plasma turbulence can generate reconnecting thin current sheets as suggested by recent results of numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission provides the first serious opportunity to verify whether small ion‐electron‐scale reconnection, generated by turbulence, resembles the reconnection events frequently observed in the magnetotail or at the magnetopause. Here we investigate field and particle observations obtained by the MMS fleet in the turbulent terrestrial magnetosheath behind quasi‐parallel bow shock geometry. We observe multiple small‐scale current sheets during the event and present a detailed look of one of the detected structures. The emergence of thin current sheets can lead to electron scale structures. Within these structures, we see signatures of ion demagnetization, electron jets, electron heating, and agyrotropy suggesting that MMS spacecraft observe reconnection at these scales.
Keywords
