The THEMIS mission includes a comprehensive ground-based measurement network that adds two additional dimensions to the information gained in the night magnetosphere by the five THEMIS spacecraft. This network provides necessary correlative data on the strength and extent of events, enables their onsets to be accurately timed, and provides an educational component in which students have an active participation in the program. This paper describes the magnetometers installed to obtain these ground-based North American magnetic measurements, including the magnetometers installed as part of the educational effort, and the support electronics provided by UCLA for the ground-based observatories. These magnetometers measure the Earth's magnetic field with high resolution, and with precise timing provided by the Global Positioning System. They represent UCLA's next generation of low-cost, ground-based magnetometers using an inexpensive personal computer for data collection, storage and distribution. These systems can be used in a standalone mode requiring only AC power. If there is Internet connectivity, they can be configured to provide near real-time data over the web. These data are provided at full resolution to the entire scientific community over the web with minimal delay.

[1] An examination of the magnetic field and plasma observed by the inner THEMIS-D spacecraft (P3) close to the equatorial plane at ∼11R E at local midnight reveals the occurrence of mirror-mode structures. These structures have the same characteristic waveform seen in other regions. The examination of the mirror-mode instability shows that inside these structures the threshold of mirror instability is marginally reached, while the surrounding plasma is mirror stable. The observed mirror structures occur in the dipolarized magnetic field following a substorm-related dipolarization. It is found that after the dipolarization front, the local ions become more anisotropic and initial magnetic holes form inside this anisotropic plasma before the fully-fledged mirror structures are observed. The ions become less anisotropic afterward, but the strong field depression in the magnetic holes enhances the effective plasma beta so that the mirror instability threshold is marginally reached. Thus, the dipolarization process provides the large-amplitude magnetic field fluctuations and the anisotropic plasma environment for mirror structures to grow. The isolated large-amplitude mirror-mode structures survive in the mirror-stable plasma even through the plasma becomes less anisotropic. It is also found that the width of magnetotail mirror-structures is smaller than one gyroradius of a plasma sheet proton, which is different from the width of mirror structures in other regions. These mirror structures appear to have a strong correlation with electron anisotropy changes. These observations suggest that electron kinetics may also play a role during the growth and saturation of mirror instability in the near-Earth tail.

[1] We performed a global MHD simulation of a well-studied substorm on 27 February 2009(Runov et al., 2009) to understand the generation and large-scale evolution of dipolarization fronts within bursty bulk flows (BBFs). Conjugate, well-positioned Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms (THEMIS) observations from space and ground observatories provide significant constraints to the simulation model. The main substorm onset auroral brightening, at 0749 UT, was in the field of view of Fort Smith (FSMI), just poleward of a preexisting auroral arc. Two minutes later, the space probes recorded a sharp dipolarization front moving sunward, passing by THEMIS and traversing ∼10 R E along the magnetotail. Our global MHD model, OpenGGCM, driven by real-time solar wind/interplanetary magnetic field conditions, is able to reproduce the key features of these signatures. We show that the auroral breakup is caused by the strong flow shear and the flow vortices formed by the BBF flows. Rebound oscillations of the intruding BBF (consistent with recent observations by Panov et al. (2010a)) and filamentation of the front into 1 R E size undulations are superimposed on the flow pattern. Further investigation of the interaction of the BBF and the dipolarization fronts (DFs) reveals that an observed bipolar Bz signature ahead of the DF is due to the interaction between two distinct plasmas emanating from multiple X lines: antisunwardmoving flux tubes from a reconnection region at ∼13 R E and sunward-moving dipolarization region within a BBF from a midtail reconnection region at ∼23 R E .

[1] Observations of the Earth's magnetotail plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) have been typically accompanied by field-aligned crescent-shaped ion beams, thought to emanate at distant or mid-tail semi-permanent or impulsive acceleration sites. Typically such observations, and the theoretical and modeling efforts to explain them, have been disjoint from the adjacent plasma sheet properties near the equatorial projection of the observation. Thus the plasma sheet boundary layer has been thought of as a harbinger of remote, rather than local plasma sheet activity, exception of plasma sheet expansions during the recovery phase of substorms. Using case and statistical studies from THEMIS, obtained simultaneously at the near-Earth PSBL and at its adjacent central plasma sheet (CPS), we study the transient and impulsive nature of PSBL beams and their inherent connection with CPS bursty bulk flows and associated dipolarization fronts. We show that PSBL beams typically commence a few minutes before CPS flow bursts, which in turn are seen tens of seconds ahead of the arrival of dipolarization fronts. These timing correlations, the crescent shapes of PSBL ion beams, the CPS ion flux enhancements in the earthward and dawnward directions, and other particle distribution characteristics can all be well reproduced by a simple model of ion reflection and acceleration at earthward-propagating dipolarization fronts associated with CPS flow bursts. The emerging paradigm, therefore, unifies impulsive transport phenomena across latitudes in the near-Earth magnetotail plasma sheet.

Dipolarization fronts (DFs) as earthward propagating flux ropes (FRs) in the Earth's magnetotail are presented and investigated with a three‐dimensional (3‐D) global hybrid simulation for the first time. In the simulation, several small‐scale earthward propagating FRs are found to be formed by multiple X line reconnection in the near tail. During their earthward propagation, the magnetic field Bz of the FRs becomes highly asymmetric due to the imbalance of the reconnection rates between the multiple X lines. At the later stage, when the FRs approach the near‐Earth dipole‐like region, the antireconnection between the southward/negative Bz of the FRs and the northward geomagnetic field leads to the erosion of the southward magnetic flux of the FRs, which further aggravates the Bz asymmetry. Eventually, the FRs merge into the near‐Earth region through the antireconnection. These earthward propagating FRs can fully reproduce the observational features of the DFs, e.g., a sharp enhancement of Bz preceded by a smaller amplitude Bz dip, an earthward flow enhancement, the presence of the electric field components in the normal and dawn‐dusk directions, and ion energization. Our results show that the earthward propagating FRs can be used to explain the DFs observed in the magnetotail. The thickness of the DFs is on the order of several ion inertial lengths, and the electric field normal to the front is found to be dominated by the Hall physics. During the earthward propagation from the near‐tail to the near‐Earth region, the speed of the FR/DFs increases from ~150 km/s to ~1000 km/s. The FR/DFs can be tilted in the GSM (x, y) plane with respect to the y (dawn‐dusk) axis and only extend several Earth radii in this direction. Moreover, the structure and evolution of the FRs/DFs are nonuniform in the dawn‐dusk direction, which indicates that the DFs are essentially 3‐D.

[1] We present case studies of THEMIS multipoint observations of ion distributions in the magnetotail plasma sheet at various locations upstream of earthward-propagating dipolarization fronts. Observations made near the neutral sheet show a characteristic signature, enhancements of earthward-moving ion fluxes about 30 s before dipolarization front arrival. In previous studies, this signature has been well explained as front-reflected ions confined to a region characterized by their gyroradii over the background B z field that coexist with the ambient population. However, at higher latitudes near the plasma sheet boundary layer, observations suggest that earthward-moving ions appear a few minutes earlier than at the central plasma sheet, indicating that the ions reflected at the same dipolarization front could access farther toward the Earth at higher latitudes. These observed phenomena, as also stated in our companion paper, are associated with transient intensifications of proton auroral brightness, which suggests a direct connection between magnetospheric and ionospheric signatures during geomagnetic disturbed conditions. We carry out numerical simulations and theoretical analysis of ion dynamics to interpret and reproduce these observations, to improve our understanding of interactions between earthward-propagating fronts and the ambient plasma in the near-Earth magnetotail, and to establish the proton auroral effects of dipolarization fronts.

[1] Sudden impulses (SIs) are an important source of ultra low frequency (ULF) wave activity throughout the Earth's magnetosphere. Most SI-induced ULF wave events have been reported in the dayside magnetosphere; it is not clear when and how SIs drive ULF wave activity in the nightside plasma sheet. We examined the ULF response of the nightside plasma sheet to SIs using an ensemble of 13 SI events observed by THEMIS (Timed History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) satellites (probes). Only three of these events resulted in ULF wave activity. The periods of the waves are found to be 3.3, 6.0, and 7.6 min. East-west magnetic and radial electric field perturbations, which typically indicate the toroidal mode, are found to be stronger and can have phase relationships consistent with standing waves. Our results suggest that the two largest-amplitude ULF responses to SIs in the nightside plasma sheet are tailward-moving vortices, which have previously been reported, and the dynamic response of cross-tail currents in the magnetotail to maintain force balance with the solar wind, which has not previously been reported as a ULF wave driver. Both mechanisms could potentially drive standing Alfvén waves (toroidal modes) observed via the field-line resonance mechanism. Furthermore, both involve frequency selection and a preference for certain driving conditions that can explain the small number of ULF wave events associated with SIs in the nightside plasma sheet.Citation: Shi, Q. Q., et al. (2013), THEMIS observations of ULF wave excitation in the nightside plasma sheet during sudden impulse events,

[1] Recent global simulations of substorms show that before the onset of near-Earth reconnection the pressure equilibrium in the tail breaks down. This instability has no cross-tail variation and is thus not a ballooning mode, and it is also distinct from the tearing mode. Here, we analyze an Open Geospace General Circulation Model simulation run of the 23 March 2007 substorm and find the same instability. Because this mode has no significant cross-tail variation associated with it we call it the KY0 mode. Besides the KY0 mode we also find the classical ballooning mode in the simulation. It has a wavelength of ∼0.5 R E and is marginally, but sufficiently, resolved as shown by a higher-resolution control run. These results suggest a new scenario for the substorm expansion phase onset. During the growth phase magnetic flux is added to the lobes and the plasma sheet thins but remains in equilibrium. When force balance is no longer possible the KY0 instability grows and accelerates plasma tailward. The divergence of the resulting tailward flow reduces the normal magnetic field and thereby makes the current sheet tearing unstable. The tearing mode grows right out of the KY0 mode. The classical ballooning mode grows at the same time and is superimposed on the KY0 mode, but its role in initiating reconnection is still unclear. The growth time of the KY0 mode, ∼2 min, is both consistent with the notion of an explosive growth phase and with recent ground-based observation of the initial growth of auroral arcs before auroral breakup.Citation: Raeder, J., P. Zhu, Y. Ge, and G. Siscoe (2010), Open Geospace General Circulation Model simulation of a substorm: Axial tail instability and ballooning mode preceding substorm onset,