Abstract
AbstractOnset of a substorm is closely correlated with the current disruption in the near‐Earth magnetotail, about 6~8 RE and magnetic reconnection in the middle magnetotail, around 20~30 RE. It is vital to understand the onset of a substorm by studying the time series among polar expansion of aurora, current disruption and magnetic reconnection. In this paper, with measurements from the Cluster spacecraft in the middle magnetotail, LANL‐01 and LANL‐97 at the synchronous orbit, POLAR in the near‐earth magnetotail and IMAGE at polar region, a single substorm event is presented. The analysis indicates that magnetic reconnection is 3 minutes earlier than the current disruption in the near‐earth magnetotail. Aurora brightening is observed by IMAGE 4 minutes after the current disruption. Simultaneously, the sharp increment of the AE index implies the substorm onset. The observational result is consistent with the Near Earth Neutral Line model (NENL).
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