[P-EM13] [EE] Exploring space plasma processes with Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission

[PEM13-14] Asymmetry in mid-latitude reconnection site locations associated with the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability

*Yoann Vernisse^1,2, Benoit Lavraud^1,2, Stefan Eriksson³, Matteo Faganello⁴, Daniel J. Gershman^5,6, John Dorelli⁵, Craig J Pollock⁵, Barbara Giles⁵, Nicolas Aunai⁷, Levon Avanov^5,6, Jim Burch⁸, Michael Chandler⁹, Victoria Coffey⁹, Jérémy Dargent^1,7, Robert Ergun³, Charlie Farrugia¹⁰, vincent genot^1,2, Daniel Graham¹¹, Hiroshi Hasegawa¹², Christian Jacquey^1,2, Issaad Kacem^1,2, Yuri Khotyaintsev¹¹, Wenya Li¹¹, Werner Magnes¹³, Aurélie Marchaudon^1,2, Thomas earle Moore⁵, William r Paterson⁵, Emmanuel Penou^2,1, Tai Phan¹⁴, Alessandro Retino⁷, Christopher t Russell¹⁵, Yoshifumi Saito¹², Jean-André Sauvaud^1,2, Conrad Schiff⁵, Roy Torbert¹⁰, Frederick Wilder³, Shoichiro Yokota¹² (1.Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, 2.Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, 3.Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 4.Laboratoire de Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires, Université Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France, 5.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, 6.Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA, 7.Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Palaiseau, France, 8.Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA, 9.NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, USA, 10.Physics Department and Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA, 11.Swedish institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden, 12.Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan, 13.Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria, 14.Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA, 15.Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, and Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA)

Keywords:Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, mid-latitude reconnection, magnetospheric multiscale mission

On 08 September 2015, MMS observed a long duration Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the dayside magnetopause near the terminator. Kinetic signatures of local reconnection have been observed, showing evidences of Type I reconnection associated with the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves. Remote observations, i.e., streaming hot electrons in the magnetosheath boundary layer, suggested that reconnection occurred at higher latitudes both above and below the KH development plane. A revised analysis shows that the electron signatures have a preferred directionality, suggesting a preference for mid-latitude reconnection occurring mostly southward of the KH development plane. We investigate this preference by means of the high resolution instruments of the MMS mission combined with MHD simulations and show potential relation between the magnetic field line tension and reconnection.