Magnetic reconnection is a main process converting the magnetic energy into thermal and kinetic energy in plasmas. It is one of the fundamental problems of crucial importance not only to space plasmas physics and space weather studies, such as the solar flare, coronal mass ejections and magnetospheric substorms, but also to the stability analysis in magnetically confined fusion. In general, except for cases with periodical boundary conditions, three-dimensional (3D) magnetic reconnection occurs on magnetic separatrices generated by magnetic nulls. Here we briefly introduce/review the theories and some recent satellite observations of 3D magnetic reconnection. Topics to be further studied are also discussed.

From 23:10 to 23:50 UT on 18 March 2004, the Double Star TC-1 spacecraft detected eight flux ropes at the outbound crossing of the southern dawnside magnetopause. A notable guide field existed inside all ropes. In the mean time the Cluster spacecraft were staying in the magnetosheath and found that the events occurred under the condition of southward IMF Bz and dominant negative IMF By. There are six ropes that appeared quasi-periodically, with a repeated period being approximately 1–4 min. The last flux rope lasts for a longer time interval with a larger peak in the BN variations; it can thus be referred to as a typical FTE. The 18 March 2004 event is quite similar to the multiple flux rope event observed by Cluster on 26 January 2001 at the northern duskside high-latitude magnetopause. A detailed comparison of these two events is made in the paper. Preliminary studies imply that both of these multiple flux ropes events seem to be produced by component reconnection at the dayside low-latitude magnetopause.

Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important processes in astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas. Identifying the structure around the point at which the magnetic field lines break and subsequently reform, known as the magnetic null point, is crucial to improving our understanding reconnection. But owing to the inherently three-dimensional nature of this process, magnetic nulls are only detectable through measurements obtained simultaneously from at least four points in space. Using data collected by the four spacecraft of the Cluster constellation as they traversed a diffusion region in the Earth's magnetotail on 15 September, 2001, we report here the first in situ evidence for the structure of an isolated magnetic null. The results indicate that it has a positive-spiral structure whose spatial extent is of the same order as the local ion inertial length scale, suggesting that the Hall effect could play an important role in 3D reconnection dynamics.

More than 40 gradual SEPs have been observed by GOES and SOHO from 2001 to 2003. During 12 SEPs of all these events, energetic electron ux enhancements with energies from 38 keV to 337 keV were observed by RAPID onboard Cluster spacecraft. During these 12 events the variation of the energetic electron ux measured by RAPID/Cluster was closely associated to the variation of the solar energetic proton ux. The observed energetic electron ux was independent on the location of Cluster in the magnetosphere and the background level of magnetospheric electrons (even when the Cluster spacecraft was crossing the magnetopause, the plasma sheet and the low latitude boundary layer). The similar variation of the enhancement of energetic electron ux has also been observed by POLAR and Geotail in some of these events. In some of these events, the electron measurement of RAPID/Cluster will not be contaminated by the SEP protons.