Structure and dynamics of magnetic reconnection for substorm onsets with Geotail observations

Abstract

Fast tailward ion flows with strongly southward magnetic fields are frequently observed near the neutral sheet in the premidnight sector of the magnetotail at 20–30 RE for substorm onsets in Geotail observations. These fast tailward flows are occasionally accompanied by a few keV electrons. With these events, we study the structure and dynamics of magnetic reconnection. The plasma sheet near the magnetic reconnection site can be divided into three regions: the neutral sheet region (near the neutral sheet with the absolute magnitude of Bx of < 5 nT), the boundary region (near the plasma sheet/tail lobe boundary with the absolute magnitude of Bx is near or > 10 nT), and the off‐equatorial plasma sheet (the rest). In the neutral sheet region, plasmas are transported with strong convection, and accelerated electrons show nearly isotropic distributions. In the off‐equatorial plasma sheet, two ion components coexist: ions being accelerated and heated during convection toward the neutral sheet and ions flowing at a high speed almost along the magnetic field. In this region, highly accelerated electrons are observed. Although electron distributions are basically isotropic, high‐energy (higher than 10 keV) electrons show streaming away from the reconnection site along the magnetic field line. In the boundary region, ions also show two components: ions with convection toward the neutral sheet and field‐aligned ions flowing out of the reconnection region, although acceleration and heating during convection are weak. In the boundary region, high‐energy (10 keV) electrons stream away, while medium‐energy (3 keV) electrons stream into the reconnection site. Magnetic reconnection usually starts in the premidnight sector of the magnetotail between XGSM = −20 RE and XGSM = −30 RE prior to an onset signature identified with Pi 2 pulsation on the ground. Magnetic reconnection proceeds on a timescale of 10 min. After magnetic reconnection ends, adjacent plasmas are transported into the postreconnection site, and plasmas can become stationary even in the expansion phase.