Flow braking and the substorm current wedge

Abstract

Recent models of magnetotail activity have associated the braking of earthward flow with dipolarization and the reduction and diversion of cross‐tail current, that is, the signatures of the substorm current wedge. Estimates of the magnitude of the diverted current by Haerendel [1992] and Shiokawa et al. [1997, 1998] tend to be lower than results from computer simulations of magnetotail reconnection and tail collapse [Birn and Hesse, 1996], despite similar underlying models. An analysis of the differences between these estimates on the basis of the simulations gives a more refined picture of the diversion of perpendicular into parallel currents. The inertial currents considered by Haerendel [1992] and Shiokawa et al. [1997] contribute to the initial current reduction and diversion, but the dominant and more permanent contribution stems from the pressure gradient terms, which change in connection with the field collapse and distortion. The major effect results from pressure gradients in the z direction, rather than from the azimuthal gradients [Shiokawa et al., 1998], combined with changes in By and Bz. The reduction of the current density near the equatorial plane is associated with a reduction of the curvature drift which overcompensates changes of the magnetization current and of the gradient B drift current. In contrast to the inertial current effects, the pressure gradient effects persist even after the burst of earthward flow ends.