It is proposed that reconnection would be a main mechanism governing the plasma processes on auroral time scales in the topside ionosphere/high-latitude magnetosphere transition. It occurs in the downward current region between two narrow parallel closely spaced though separated downward current sheets. The field-aligned currents are carried by upward cold upper-ionospheric electrons closing the upward current in an adjacent region. This local process does primarily not affect the ambient field but generates an anomalous diffusivity.
Categories: physics.space-ph astro-ph.SR physics.geo-ph physics.plasm-ph