The Dungey cycle of Mercury’s magnetosphere. Figure is adapted from Sun et al. [2015]. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064052 (IMAGE)

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The Dungey cycle of Mercury’s magnetosphere. Figure is adapted from Sun et al. [2015]. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064052

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The magnetic flux circulation of a Dungey cycle corresponds to a magnetospheric substorm, which lasts 2 to 3 minutes at Mercury. The location of the magnetopause, the occurrence of dayside magnetopause reconnection, and the shape of the plasma sheet at the start of the substorm (a) growth phase, (b) expansion phase, and (c) recovery phase.

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