Expansion/contraction rate (left) and temperature distribution (middle) in the region of the merging plasmoids at t = 137.39 s. The dashed horizontal (cyan) lines in the middle panel mark the levels y = 26, 27.5, and 28.5 Mm. Right panel: Temperature distribution along the horizontal direction for the three y-levels marked by the dashed lines in the middle panel. The minimum temperature along the y = 28.5 Mm line (red curve in the right panel) is 0.8 MK.