It has recently been found that a one-dimensional current sheet equilibrium with a non-zero convection electric field, Ey, and a non-zero normal magnetic field component, Bn, can reach a point of catastrophe through either the reduction of the drift velocity vD=cEy/Bn or the increase of Bn. This point of catastrophe coincides with a value of &kgr;A≂0.7, where &kgr;A is the self-consistent value of k=(Rmin/&rgr;A max)1/2 corresponding to ions of average energy. (Here Rmin is the minimum field-line radius of curvature and &rgr;A max is the maximum gyroradius for ions of average energy.) This point of catastrophe was found to be preceded by a twisting of the current sheet field-lines into the dawnward direction, i.e. by the development of a y-component of B, with odd symmetry in z, and a sign opposite Bx, where positive x is earthward, positive y is in the dawn-to-dusk direction and positive z is northward. Since the loss of the current sheet would cause the local configuration to become more dipolar, it was suggested that the catastrophic loss of the local current sheet equilibrium could correspond to local current disruption and dipolarization. In this paper, observations of some of the signatures predicted by theory are presented. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1992