Publication Date:
2017-07-22
Description:
We report three spacecraft observations of a reconnecting magnetosheath current sheet with a guide field of unity, with THD and THE/THA observing oppositely directed reconnection exhausts, indicating the presence of an X-line between the spacecraft. The near constant convective speed of the magnetosheath current sheet allowed the direct translation of the observed time series into spatial profiles. THD observed asymmetries in the plasma density and temperature profiles across the exhaust, characteristics of symmetric reconnection with a guide field. The exhausts at THE and THA, on the other hand, were not the expected mirror image of the THD exhaust in terms of the plasma and field profiles. They consisted of a main outflow at the center of the current sheet, flanked by oppositely directed flows at the two edges of the current sheet, suggesting the presence of a second X-line, whose outflow wraps around the outflow from the first X-line.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
Permalink