Global Magnetic Reconnection During Sustained Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind Driving
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Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2024-3-15
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Citation of Original Publication
Burkholder, B. L., L.-J. Chen, M. Sarantos, D. J. Gershman, M. R. Argall, Y. Chen, C. Dong, F. D. Wilder, O. Le Contel, and H. Gurram. “Global Magnetic Reconnection During Sustained Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind Driving.” Geophysical Research Letters 51, no. 6 (2024): e2024GL108311. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108311.
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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Public Domain
Abstract
When the solar wind speed falls below the local Alfvén speed, the magnetotail transforms into an Alfvén wing configuration. A Grid Agnostic Magnetohydrodynamics for Extended Research Applications (GAMERA) simulation of Earth's magnetosphere using solar wind parameters from the 24 April 2023 sub-Alfvénic interval is examined to reveal modifications of Dungey-type magnetotail reconnection during sustained sub-Alfvénic solar wind. The simulation shows new magnetospheric flux is generated via reconnection between polar cap field lines from the northern and southern hemisphere, similar to Dungey-type magnetotail reconnection between lobe field lines mapping to opposite hemispheres. The key feature setting the Alfvén wing reconnection apart from the typical Dungey-type is that the majority of new magnetospheric flux is added to the polar cap at local times 1–3 (21-23) in the northern (southern) hemisphere. During most of the sub-Alfvénic interval, reconnection mapping to midnight in the polar cap generates relatively little new magnetospheric flux.