DOI

  • R. Nakamura
  • W. Baumjohann
  • F. Plaschke
  • W. Magnes
  • D. Fischer
  • A. Varsani
  • D. Schmid
  • T. K.M. Nakamura
  • C. T. Russell
  • R. J. Strangeway
  • H. K. Leinweber
  • G. Le
  • K. R. Bromund
  • C. J. Pollock
  • B. L. Giles
  • J. C. Dorelli
  • D. J. Gershman
  • W. Paterson
  • L. A. Avanov
  • S. A. Fuselier
  • K. Genestreti
  • J. L. Burch
  • R. B. Torbert
  • M. Chutter
  • M. R. Argall
  • B. J. Anderson
  • P. A. Lindqvist
  • G. T. Marklund
  • Y. V. Khotyaintsev
  • B. H. Mauk
  • I. J. Cohen
  • D. N. Baker
  • A. N. Jaynes
  • R. E. Ergun
  • H. J. Singer
  • J. A. Slavin
  • E. L. Kepko
  • T. E. Moore
  • B. Lavraud
  • V. Coffey
  • Y. Saito

We report on field-aligned current observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) during two major substorms on 23 June 2015. Small-scale field-aligned currents were found embedded in fluctuating PSBL flux tubes near the separatrix region. We resolve, for the first time, short-lived earthward (downward) intense field-aligned current sheets with thicknesses of a few tens of kilometers, which are well below the ion scale, on flux tubes moving equatorward/earthward during outward plasma sheet expansion. They coincide with upward field-aligned electron beams with energies of a few hundred eV. These electrons are most likely due to acceleration associated with a reconnection jet or high-energy ion beam-produced disturbances. The observations highlight coupling of multiscale processes in PSBL as a consequence of magnetotail reconnection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4841-4849
Number of pages9
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume43
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

    Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

    Research areas

  • electron beam, field-aligned currents, MMS, PSBL

ID: 9308809