A diagnosis of the plasma waves responsible for the explosive energy release of substorm onset.

During geomagnetic substorms, stored magnetic and plasma thermal energies are explosively converted into plasma kinetic energy. This rapid reconfiguration of Earth's nightside magnetosphere is manifest in the ionosphere as an auroral display that fills the sky. Progress in understanding of how substorms are initiated is hindered by a lack of quantitative analysis of the single consistent feature of onset; the rapid brightening and structuring of the most equatorward arc in the ionosphere.

Using ultra-low frequency waves and their characteristics to diagnose key physics of substorm onset.

Substorm onset is marked in the ionosphere by the sudden brightening of an existing auroral arc or the creation of a new auroral arc. Also present is the formation of auroral beads, proposed to play a key role in the detonation of the substorm, as well as the development of the large-scale substorm current wedge (SCW), invoked to carry the current diversion. Both these phenomena, auroral beads and the SCW, have been intimately related to ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves of specific frequencies as observed by ground-based magnetometers.

Statistical characterization of the growth and spatial scales of the substorm onset arc.

We present the first multievent study of the spatial and temporal structuring of the aurora to provide statistical evidence of the near-Earth plasma instability which causes the substorm onset arc. Using data from ground-based auroral imagers, we study repeatable signatures of along-arc auroral beads, which are thought to represent the ionospheric projection of magnetospheric instability in the near-Earth plasma sheet. We show that the growth and spatial scales of these wave-like fluctuations are similar across multiple events, indicating that each sudden auroral brightening has a common explanation.

What effect do substorms have on the content of the radiation belts?

Substorms are fundamental and dynamic processes in the magnetosphere, converting captured solar wind magnetic energy into plasma energy. These substorms have been suggested to be a key driver of energetic electron enhancements in the outer radiation belts. Substorms inject a keV "seed" population into the inner magnetosphere which is subsequently energized through wave-particle interactions up to relativistic energies; however, the extent to which substorms enhance the radiation belts, either directly or indirectly, has never before been quantified.

Increases in plasma sheet temperature with solar wind driving during substorm growth phases.

During substorm growth phases, magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause extracts ∼10 J from the solar wind which is then stored in the magnetotail lobes. Plasma sheet pressure increases to balance magnetic flux density increases in the lobes. Here we examine plasma sheet pressure, density, and temperature during substorm growth phases using 9 years of Cluster data (>316,000 data points).