Reconnection at Earth’s Dayside Magnetopause

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection at Earth’s dayside magnetopause plays a crucial role in space weather-related phenomena. The response of the magnetosphere to input from interplanetary space differs greatly depending on where reconnection happens and how efficiently it reconnects magnetic flux from interplanetary space. This chapter is a pedagogical treatment of dayside reconnection. Introductory topics include a guide to the magnetosphere for the uninitiated and a brief history of the field. Technical topics include qualitative properties of dayside reconnection, such as where reconnection occurs and what it looks like, and how reconnection quantitatively depends on ambient conditions, including the effect of asymmetries, the diamagnetic drift, and flow shear. Both observational and theoretical aspects are discussed. The chapter is closed with a discussion of open questions and the outlook for the future of dayside reconnection research.