Flux Transfer Events at the dayside magnetopause: Transient reconnection or magnetosheath pressure pulses

Abstract, The suggestion isdiscussed that characteristic particle and field signatures at the dayside magnetopause, termed "flux transfer events " (FTEs), are, in at least some cases, due to transient solar wind and/or magnetosheath dynamic pressure increases, rather than time-dependent magnetic reconnection. It is found that most individual cases of FTEs observed by a single spacecraft can, at least qualitatively, be explained by the pressure pulse model, provided a few rather unsatisfactory features of the predictions are explained in terms of measurement uncertainties. The most notable exceptions to this are some "two-regime " observations made by two satellites imultaneously, one on either side of the magnetopause. However, this configuration has not been frequently achieved for sufficient ime, such observations are rare, and the relevant ests are still not conclusive. The strongest evidence that FI'Es are produced by magnetic reconnection is the dependence of their occurrence on the north-south component of th