Reply [to “Observations of reconnection of interplanetary and lobe magnetic field lines at the high‐latitude magnetopause” by J. T. Gosling, M. F. Thomsen, S. J. Bame, R. C. Elphic, and C. T. Russell”

Abstract

The author responds to a paper by Gosling, et al., where the claim is made that experimental data lends support for the observation of local magnetic reconnection. Gosling, et al. present results from ISEE 2 taken near the high latitude, dusk magnetopause, when the magnetic fields in the magnetosheath and tail lobe were approximately oppositely aligned. Detailed ion velocity distributions were measured for the first time for such an event, and showed several different velocity distributions to be present. The author points out that the interpretation of this event does not have to be in terms of such a reconnection event. An explanation is offered of a model proposed by Alexeev and Belenkaya which deals with convection patterns in the earths magnetosphere as it interacts with northern and southern interplanetary magnetic fields. Magnetic reconnection events are described differently dependent upon the IMF orientation and may be two- or three-dimensional in character, occuring at merging lines in the magnetopause or neutral magnetic field points. The author offers a different interpretation of the observed event, claiming field line motion can explain the observation.