Driven reconnection and bursty bulk flows

B. P. Pandey*, G. S. Lakhina

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The energetics of driven magnetic reconnections induced by the deformation of the magnetopause boundary due to the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction are studied. The bursty type reconnection ensues due to the forcing of the magnetopause boundary by the solar wind. For typical plasma parameters in the inner central plasma sheet (ICPS), the magnetic energy release during the reconnection is estimated and it is found that the available free energy is comparable to the observed kinetic energy of typical bursty bulk flows. It implies that the part of the free energy goes into the heating of the ICPS particles, whereas the rest goes into its acceleration. The accelarated particle manifests itself as bursty flows.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)681-686
Number of pages6
JournalAnnales Geophysicae
Volume19
Issue number7
Publication statusPublished - 2001
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Magnetospheric physics (magnetotail; storms and substorms)

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