SuperDARN CUTLASS Finland radar observations of high-latitude magnetic reconnections under northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions

A number of backscatter power enhancement events with “equatorward-moving radar auroral forms” in the high-latitude ionosphere were observed by SuperDARN CUTLASS Finland radar when the IMF was northward during 09:00–10:00 UT on 26 March 2004. These events were also associated with sunward flow enhancements at each location in the Northern Hemisphere which were shown in ionospheric convections measured by the SuperDARN radars. These are typical features of high-latitude (lobe) magnetic reconnections. The durations of the velocity enhancements imply that the evolution time of the lobe reconnections is about 8–16 min from their origin at the reconnection site to their addition to the magnetotail lobe again. In additional, the Double Star TC-1 spacecraft was moving from magnetosheath into magnetosphere, and crossing the magnetopause near the subsolar region during this interval, and observed typical low-latitude magnetic reconnection signatures. This infers that the dayside high- and low-latitude reconnections may occur simultaneously.