Solar wind energy and electric field transfer to the Earth's magnetosphere via magnetopause reconnection

Abstract

Some general expressions for the convection and parallel electric fields as well as for the energy transfer, due to magnetopause reconnection, are derived using a nose—reconnection model that takes into account the presence of the clefts. For the case of equal geomagnetic and magnetosheath field amplitudes, the expression for the power dissipated by the convection electric field reduces to the substorm parameter ε widely discussed in the recent literature. This result suggests that magnetopause reconnection is defined at the nose with a tilted reconnection line, but that the convection electric field is related only to the dawn‐dusk component of the reconnection electric field, as defined at high latitudes (clefts).