Observations and Simulations on the M-I Coupling of Bursty Convection
This final report summarizes the development and application of the first ever method to measure a proxy of the global merging along the solar wind-Earth separatrix. The ultimate aim of the project is to quantify the reconnection potential in the magnetotail and the fraction of it that is due to bursty bulk flows (BBFs). To achieve this goal, we developed the first method that allows the measurement of the distribution of reconnection rate along the polar cap boundary. The method was then applied to substorms and steady magnetospheric convection (labeled as SMC or convection bay) periods in order to quantify the strength of reconnection and the fraction of it that is contributed by BBFs in each case. Results of this research were reported in two manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Geophysical Research and presented at three international conferences. This report is organized as follows. In Section 2 we discuss the conceptual framework that is the foundation of the method. In Section 3 we describe the details of the method. In Section 4 we describe the application of the technique to substorms and SMCs. In Section 5 we summarize the results of this investigation and provide references to the manuscripts and conference presentations that report on the results of this project.