The multi-spacecraft timing method, a data analysis techniquebased on four-point measurements to obtain the normal vector andvelocity of an observed boundary, has been widely applied tovarious discontinuities in the solar wind and the magnetospherestudies. In this paper, we perform simulations to analyze theerrors of the timing method by specifying the error sources to theuncertainties in the determination of the time delays between eachspacecraft pair. It is shown that the timing method may have largeerrors if either the spacecraft tetrahedron is largely elongatedand/or flattened, or the discontinuity moves much slower than theconstellation itself. The results, therefore, suggest that some ofthe applications of the timing method require reexamination withspecial caution, in particular for the studies of the slow-movingdiscontinuities associated with, for example, the plasmasphericplumes.
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