  Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous plasma process in which oppositely
directed magnetic field lines break and rejoin, resulting in a change of the
magnetic field topology. Reconnection generates magnetic islands: regions
enclosed by magnetic field lines and separated by reconnection points. Proper
identification of these features is important to understand particle
acceleration and overall behavior of plasma. We present a contour-tree based
visualization for robust and objective identification of islands and
reconnection points in two-dimensional (2D) magnetic reconnection simulations.
The application of this visualization to a simple simulation has revealed a
physical phenomenon previously not reported, resulting in a more comprehensive
understanding of magnetic reconnection.
