“…The important condition for initiating the R-T instability is, as mentioned above, the existence of a force normal to the interface between the two fluids. It may be the gravitational force, the inertial force resulting from deceleration of plasma moving toward or out from the reconnection layer, the force due to the curvature of magnetic field lines, and others (see also Winske, 1996). The R-T instability may develop both at the magnetopause, following compression by the solar wind dynamic pressure (Gratton et al, 1996), and in the magnetotail (Pritchett and Coroniti, 2010;Guzdar et al, 2010;Lapenta and Bettarini, 2011).…”