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Published in

American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters, 14(36), 2009

DOI: 10.1029/2009gl038980

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THEMIS observations of an earthward-propagating dipolarization front

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

We report THEMIS observations of a dipolarization front, a sharp, large-amplitude increase in the Z-component of the magnetic field. The front was detected in the central plasma sheet sequentially at X = -20.1 R E (THEMIS P1 probe), at X = -16.7 R E (P2), and at X = -11.0 R E (P3/P4 pair), suggesting its earthward propagation as a coherent structure over a distance more than 10 R E at a velocity of 300 km/s. The front thickness was found to be as small as the ion inertial length. Comparison with simulations allows us to interpret the front as the leading edge of a plasma fast flow formed by a burst of magnetic reconnection in the midtail.