Storm‐Time Very‐Near‐Earth Magnetotail Reconnection: A Statistical Perspective

Abstract

AbstractThe ring current, an equatorial near‐Earth current, fluctuates in response to solar wind plasma interactions with Earth's magnetosphere. Despite extensive research on storm‐time ring current energization, direct evidence of the energy transport into the inner‐magnetosphere that powers this current remains scarce. Recent observations revealing that very‐near‐Earth reconnection (VNERX, occurring at geocentric distance <14 RE) can occur during storms suggest that such reconnection could play an important role in ring current development. Here we address how common VNERX is. We use inner‐magnetosphere and plasma sheet observations from the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) satellites spanning 13 years. During this period, THEMIS observed 512 storms and 7 VNERX events. All VNERX events occurred during storm main‐phase at or near the pre‐midnight sector (None were observed during storm recovery‐phase.). The events occurred within 1 RE of the modeled neutral sheet, suggesting that VNERX events are elusive because they lie near the neutral sheet. Since THEMIS spent 5,253 hr within 1 RE of the modeled neutral sheet during storm main‐phase, the inferred observational VNERX occurrence rate is 1.3 per 1,000 hr of storm main‐phase. This rate is lower than published ion‐diffusion‐region occurrence rates seen in the near‐Earth plasma sheet during non‐storm times (likely substorms). These results suggest that while VNERX events might be significant for the storm‐time ring current's initial buildup (during storm main‐phase), other transport mechanisms, like enhanced global convection, may be responsible for maintaining the strength of the ring current during storm recovery‐phase.