GEOTAIL Spacecraft Observations of Near-Tail Dipolarization and Plasma Flow during the Substorm Expansion

Abstract

Some observational features on the July 5, 1995 substorm event are presented using the data from the Geotail satellite which was located at near-Earth plasma sheet, XGSE ¡­ -9.6 R_E, and quite close to the onset sector. Near-tail magnetic field reveals the typical dipolarizations starting at ¡­ 1104 UT until ¡­ 1113 UT. During the interval, two dipolarizations occur: First dipolarization is not strong and accompanies only weak ( 450 km/s was observed, but delayed by ¡­ 1 min with respect to the second dipolarization initiation. These features are in conflict with the flow-braking scenario for the substorm. Rather they fit better in the near-tail current disruption scenario.

Keywords

• SUBSTORM
• PLASMA FLOW
• GEOTAIL