Phan, T.D.; Freeman, M.P. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8653-8279; Kistler, L.M.; Klecker, B.; Haerendel, G.; Paschmann, G.; Sonnerup, B.U.Ö; Baumjohann, W.; Bavassano-Cattaneo, M.B.; Carlson, C.W.; DiLellis, A.M.; Fornacon, K.-H.; Frank, L.A.; Fujimoto, M.; Georgescu, E.; Kokubun, S.; Moebius, E.; Mukai, T.; Paterson, W.R.; Reme, H..
2001
Evidence for an extended reconnection line at the dayside magnetopause.
Earth Planets Space, 53 (6).
619-625.
We report in-situ detection by two spacecraft of oppositely directed jets of plasma emanating from a magnetic
reconnection site at the Earth’s dayside magnetopause, confirming a key element inherent in all reconnection
scenarios. The dual-spacecraft (Equator-S and Geotail) observations at the flank magnetopause, together with
SuperDARNHalley radar observations of the subsolar cusp region, reveal the presence of a rather stable and extended
reconnection line which lies along the equatorial magnetopause. These observations were made under persistent
southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, implying that under these conditions the reconnection sites
are determined by the large-scale interactions between the solar wind magnetic field and the dayside magnetosphere,
rather than by local conditions at the magnetopause. Control by local conditionswould result in patchy reconnection, distributed in a less well-organized fashion over the magnetopause surface.
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