AbstractSubstorm activity, due to either substorms or substorm‐associated disturbances, shows two preferred recurrent intervals for periodic events. While the longer recurrent interval of ∼3 hr has been extensively studied, albeit still without a conclusive answer on its source mechanism, the source of the shorter 1‐hr recurrent interval has not been addressed at all. Here, we provide statistics on 102 events, each event being a sequence of substorm‐like dipolarizations with recurrent intervals of between 30 min and 2 hr, using Kp, Dst, AE, and solar wind speed, and relate them to statistics of other response modes, such as steady magnetospheric convections, sawtooth events, and isolated substorms. It becomes apparent that the 1‐hr events are a nonstorm phenomenon, which clearly distinguishes them from sawtooth events, which occur during larger Dst and Kp values. While there are statistical similarities to isolated substorms in terms of solar wind driving and Kp, our events also encompass pseudo‐breakups and smaller substorm activations. Overall, the range of AE values for the 102 events is very broad, suggesting small to large auroral activities during the events. Furthermore, we provide a comparison to published global MHD simulations with kinetic corrections, which suggests that the source mechanism of these events could be internally driven, quasi‐periodic reconnection in the magnetotail. Finally, we advocate the treatment of this global phenomenon as a separate response mode of the magnetosphere‐ionosphere system.