Browsing by Author "Eastwood, J. P."

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    Cross-Scale Processes of Magnetic Reconnection
    (Springer Nature, 2023) Hwang, K.-J.; Nakamura, R.; Eastwood, J. P.; Fuselier, S. A.; Hasegawa, H.; Nakamura, T.; Lavraud, B.; Dokgo, K.; Turner, D. L.; Ergun, R. E.; Reiff, P. H.
    Various physical processes in association with magnetic reconnection occur over multiple scales from the microscopic to macroscopic scale lengths. This paper reviews multi-scale and cross-scale aspects of magnetic reconnection revealed in the near-Earth space beyond the general global-scale features and magnetospheric circulation organized by the Dungey Cycle. Significant and novel advancements recently reported, in particular, since the launch of the Magnetospheric Multi-scale mission (MMS), are highlighted being categorized into different locations with different magnetic topologies. These potentially paradigm-shifting findings include shock and foreshock transient driven reconnection, magnetosheath turbulent reconnection, flow shear driven reconnection, multiple X-line structures generated in the dayside/flankside/nightside magnetospheric current sheets, development and evolution of reconnection-driven structures such as flux transfer events, flux ropes, and dipolarization fronts, and their interactions with ambient plasmas. The paper emphasizes key aspects of kinetic processes leading to multi-scale structures and bringing large-scale impacts of magnetic reconnection as discovered in the geospace environment. These key features can be relevant and applicable to understanding other heliospheric and astrophysical systems.
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    Global-Scale Processes and Effects of Magnetic Reconnection on the Geospace Environment
    (Springer Nature, 2024) Fuselier, S. A.; Petrinec, S. M.; Reiff, P. H.; Birn, J.; Baker, D. N.; Cohen, I. J.; Nakamura, R.; Sitnov, M. I.; Stephens, G. K.; Hwang, J.; Lavraud, B.; Moore, T. E.; Trattner, K. J.; Giles, B. L.; Gershman, D. J.; Toledo-Redondo, S.; Eastwood, J. P.
    Recent multi-point measurements, in particular from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft, have advanced the understanding of micro-scale aspects of magnetic reconnection. In addition, the MMS mission, as part of the Heliospheric System Observatory, combined with recent advances in global magnetospheric modeling, have furthered the understanding of meso- and global-scale structure and consequences of reconnection. Magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause and in the magnetotail are the drivers of the global Dungey cycle, a classical picture of global magnetospheric circulation. Some recent advances in the global structure and consequences of reconnection that are addressed here include a detailed understanding of the location and steadiness of reconnection at the dayside magnetopause, the importance of multiple plasma sources in the global circulation, and reconnection consequences in the magnetotail. These advances notwithstanding, there are important questions about global reconnection that remain. These questions focus on how multiple reconnection and reconnection variability fit into and complicate the Dungey Cycle picture of global magnetospheric circulation.