METHODS article
Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Space Physics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspas.2025.1607611
Calculation of the Dayside Reconnection Rate from Cusp Ion-Energy Dispersion
Provisionally accepted
Daniel E da Silva1,2*
Li-Jen Chen1
Stephen A Fuselier3,4Karklheinz J Trattner5Brandon L Burkholder1,2Ian Desjardin1,6Natalia Buzulukova1,7
John C. Dorelli1- 1Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, United States
- 2University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- 3Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, Texas, United States
- 4University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States
- 5Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States
- 6The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States
- 7University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland, United States
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Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in the solar wind-magnetosphere system, driving energy transfer into the magnetosphere and space weather effects. In this study, we use the formula derived in Lockwood and Smith (1992) to calculate the dayside magnetopause reconnection rate using ion-energy dispersion data from the most modern iteration of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and modeling of the dayside southward reconnection system. We study the March 23-24, 2023, geomagnetic storm, where continuous reconnection produced seven consecutive passes of ion-energy dispersion with the DMSP F18 satellite.Our results indicated that in each case, when it is assumed that the dispersion is a temporal (rather than a spatial) structure, the reconnection rates are generally between 0.1 and 2 mV/m, commensurate with other studies. Major uncertainties arise from determining the ion cutoff energy, spacecraft trajectory angle, and injection distance. We compare our methods with an alternative |E| = |v × B| baseline method, confirming that the estimates are on the correct order of magnitude. This work lays the groundwork for adaptation to TRACERS mission data. The results highlight the potential for the long-term statistical study of reconnection rates using DMSP, combined with radar measurements and upcoming discoveries around temporal versus spatial cusp structures made with TRACERS.
Keywords: Reconnection rate, Magnetospheric cusp, ion energy dispersion, magnetic reconnection, Dayside magnetosphere
Received: 07 Apr 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 da Silva, Chen, Fuselier, Trattner, Burkholder, Desjardin, Buzulukova and Dorelli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Daniel E da Silva, Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, United States
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