Magnetotail Fast Flow Occurrence Rate and Dawn-Dusk Asymmetry at XGSM∼-60RE.

Abstract

As a direct result of magnetic reconnection, plasma sheet fast flows act as primary transporter of mass, flux, and energy in the Earth's magnetotail. During the last decades, these flows were mainly studied within X GSM>−60R E, as observations near or beyond lunar orbit were limited. By using 5 years (2011–2015) of ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moons Interaction with the Sun) data, we statistically investigate earthward and tailward flows at around 60 R E downtail. A significant fraction of fast flows is directed earthward, comprising 43% (v x>400 km/s) to 56% (v x>100 km/s) of all observed flows. This suggests that near‐Earth and midtail reconnection are equally probable of occurring on either side of the ARTEMIS downtail distance. For fast convective flows (v ⊥ x>400 km/s), this fraction of earthward flows is reduced to about 29%, which is in line with reconnection as source of these flows and a downtail decreasing Alfvén velocity. More than 60% of tailward convective flows occur in the dusk sector (as opposed to the dawn sector), while earthward convective flows are nearly symmetrically distributed between the two sectors for low AL (>−400 nT) and asymmetrically distributed toward the dusk sector for high AL (<−400 nT). This indicates that the dawn‐dusk asymmetry is more pronounced closer to Earth and moves farther downtail during high geomagnetic activity. This is consistent with similar observations pointing to the asymmetric nature of tail reconnection as the origin of the dawn‐dusk asymmetry of flows and other related observables. We infer that near‐Earth reconnection is preferentially located at dusk, whereas midtail reconnection (X >− 60R E) is likely symmetric across the tail during weak substorms and asymmetric toward the dusk sector for strong substorms, as the dawn‐dusk asymmetric nature of reconnection onset in the near‐Earth region progresses downtail.