Evolution of the near-Earth magnetotail associated with substorm expansion onsets

Details Evolution of the near-Earth magnetotail associated with substorm expansion onsets Evolution of the near-Earth magnetotail associated with substorm expansion onsets

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agufmsm13c1461m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #SM13C-1461

Physics

2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2744 Magnetotail, 2790 Substorms

Scientific paper

We have statistically studied substorm-associated evolution of the magnetotail and the inner magnetosphere to understand the triggering mechanism of the substorm expansion onset. In the present study we used ion and magnetic field data from Geotail and magnetic field data from Polar and GOES to cover not only the near-Earth magnetotail but also the inner magnetosphere. A total of 3950 substorm events were determined from auroral breakups observed by the Polar UVI and IMAGE FUV auroral imagers. A few min before auroral onset, the total pressure starts to decrease first in the premidnight tail at X ~ -18 RE, where electric and magnetic field fluctuations also seem to occur. This location corresponds to the tailward edge of a region of strong magnetic field line stretching that extends from X ~ -8 RE to X ~ -18 RE. The plasmoid starts to substantially evolve at X < -20 RE, simultaneous with the beginning of the dipolarization at X ~ -8 to -9 RE. The dipolarization region then expands tailward as well as in the dawn-dusk directions and earthward. These observations suggest that, on average, the magnetic reconnection occurs first in the premidnight tail at X ~ -18 RE just before expansion onset to trigger onset processes. It is still unclear how the magnetic reconnection and the dipolarization are connected.

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