Magnetopause Erosion during the March 17, 2015 Magnetic Storm: Combined Field-aligned Currents, Auroral Oval, and Magnetopause Observations

Tuesday, 11 July 2017
Furong Room (Cynn Hotel)
Guan Le1, Hermann Luhr2, Brian J Anderson3, Robert J Strangeway4, Christopher Russell5, Howard J Singer6, James A Slavin7, Yongliang Zhang3 and MMS Magnetometer Team, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany, (3)Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, (4)University of California Los Angeles, IGPP/EPSS, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (5)Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, (6)NOAA Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (7)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Abstract:
We present multi-mission observations of field-aligned currents, auroral oval, and magnetopause crossings during the March 17, 2015 magnetic storm. Dayside reconnection is expected to transport magnetic flux, strengthen field-aligned currents, lead to polar cap expansion and magnetopause erosion. Our multi-mission observations assemble evidence for all these manifestations. After a prolonged period of strongly southward interplanetary magnetic field, Swarm and AMPERE observe significant intensification of field-aligned currents. The dayside auroral oval, as seen by DMSP, appears as a thin arc associated with ongoing dayside reconnection. Both the field-aligned currents and the auroral arc move equatorward reaching as low as ~60° MLat. Strong magnetopause erosion is evident in the in-situ measurements of the magnetopause crossings by GOES-13/15 and MMS. The coordinated Swarm, APMERE, DMSP, MMS and GOES observations, with both global and in-situ coverage of the key regions, provide a clear demonstration of the effects of dayside reconnection on the entire magnetosphere.
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