Mass and energy transfer across the Earth's magnetopause caused by vortex-induced reconnection: Mass and energy transfer by K-H vortex

Nakamura, T. K.  M.; Eriksson, S.; Hasegawa, H.; Zenitani, S.; Li, W. Y.; Genestreti, K. J.; Nakamura, R.; Daughton, W.

doi:10.1002/2017JA024346

Title: Mass and energy transfer across the Earth's magnetopause caused by vortex-induced reconnection: Mass and energy transfer by K-H vortex

Journal Article · 23 October 2017 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA024346 · OSTI ID:1407849

Nakamura, T. K. M. ^[1];

^[2];

^[3];

^[4]; Li, W. Y. ^[5]; Genestreti, K. J. ^[1];

^[1];

^[6]

Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz (Austria). Space Research Inst.
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Lab. for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tsukuba (Japan). Inst. of Space and Astronautical Science
Kyoto Univ. (Japan). Research Inst. for Sustainable Humanosphere
Swedish Inst. of Space Physics, Uppsala (Sweden); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). National Space Science Center
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

When the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is strongly northward, a boundary layer that contains a considerable amount of plasma of magnetosheath origin is often observed along and earthward of the low-latitude magnetopause. Such a pre-existing boundary layer, with a higher density than observed in the adjacent magnetosphere, reduces the local Alfvén speed and allows the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) to grow more strongly. We employ a three-dimensional fully kinetic simulation to model an event observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in which the spacecraft detected substantial KH waves between a pre-existing boundary layer and the magnetosheath during strong northward IMF. Initial results of this simulation [Nakamura et al., 2017] have successfully demonstrated ion-scale signatures of magnetic reconnection induced by the non-linearly developed KH vortex, which are quantitatively consistent with MMS observations. Furthermore, we quantify the simulated mass and energy transfer processes driven by this vortex-induced reconnection (VIR) and show that during this particular MMS event (i) mass enters a new mixing layer formed by the VIR more efficiently from the pre-existing boundary layer side than from the magnetosheath side, (ii) mixed plasmas within the new mixing layer convect tailward along the magnetopause at more than half the magnetosheath flow speed, and (iii) energy dissipation in localized VIR dissipation regions results in a strong parallel electron heating within the mixing layer. Finally, the quantitative agreements between the simulation and MMS observations allow new predictions that elucidate how the mass and energy transfer processes occur near the magnetopause during strong northward IMF.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396; AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1407849

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-17-28929

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 122; ISSN 2169-9380

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Satellite Data‐Based 3‐D Simulation of Kelvin‐Helmholtz Instability and Induced Magnetic Reconnection at the Earth's Magnetopause Sisti, M.; Faganello, M.; Califano, F. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl083282	journal	November 2019
Drift turbulence, particle transport, and anomalous dissipation at the reconnecting magnetopause Le, A.; Daughton, W.; Ohia, O. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5027086	journal	June 2018

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Title: Mass and energy transfer across the Earth's magnetopause caused by vortex-induced reconnection: Mass and energy transfer by K-H vortex

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