Global Magnetic Reconnection During Sustained Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind Driving

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dc.contributor.authorBurkholder, Brandon
dc.contributor.authorChen, L.-J.
dc.contributor.authorSarantos, M.
dc.contributor.authorGershman, D. J.
dc.contributor.authorArgall, M. R.
dc.contributor.authorChen, Y.
dc.contributor.authorDong, C.
dc.contributor.authorWilder, F. D.
dc.contributor.authorLe Contel, O.
dc.contributor.authorGurram, H.
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-06T15:05:54Z
dc.date.available2024-05-06T15:05:54Z
dc.date.issued2024-3-15
dc.description.abstractWhen 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.
dc.description.sponsorshipWe acknowledge use of NASA/GSFC's Space Physics Data Facility's OMNIWeb. We thank the team of the Center for Geospace Storms for providing the MAGE model. We also acknowledge the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin for providing HPC resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper. URL: http://www.tacc.utexas.edu. Funding for this work is provided by the NASA MMS Mission and MMS Early Career Grant 80NSSC22K0949. MRA was additionally funded by NASA H-GIO Grant 80NSSC22K0187.
dc.description.urihttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2024GL108311
dc.format.extent9 pages
dc.genrejournal articles
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2ojfv-p5v4
dc.identifier.citationBurkholder, 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.
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108311
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/33608
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherAGU
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI)
dc.rightsThis 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.
dc.rightsPublic Domain
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
dc.subjectglobal reconnection
dc.subjectnumerical simulation
dc.subjectsub Alfvenic Solar wind
dc.titleGlobal Magnetic Reconnection During Sustained Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind Driving
dc.typeText
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8702-5806

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