Double mid-latitude dynamical reconnection at the magnetopause: An efficient mechanism allowing solar wind to enter the Earth’s magnetosphere

Three-dimensional simulations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability in a magnetic configuration reproducing typical conditions at the flank Earth’s magnetosphere during northward periods show the system’s ability to generate favorable conditions for magnetic reconnection to occur at mid-latitude. Once these conditions are established, magnetic reconnection proceeds spontaneously in both hemispheres generating field lines that close on Earth but are connected to the solar wind at low latitude, allowing direct entrance of solar wind plasma into the magnetosphere. These results are consistent with recent observations of KH vortices showing the signature of reconnection events occurring well outside the equatorial plane (Bavassano M.B. et al., Ann. Geophys., 28 (2010) 893).