A mechanism of plasma stratification within the inner plasma sheet is discussed. It is suggested that plasma pressure is isoptropic and particle motion is unmagnetized for the spatial scales in which the structures are formed. The solution of the magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction problem shows that upward field-aligned current may split into separate structures. The number of structures formed is determined by a parameter which depends on upward field-aligned current density, field-aligned current band width, hot magnetospheric ion temperature, and height-integrated Pedersen ionospheric conductivity. The Intercosmos-Bulgaria-1300 satellite base data has been used to identify events of multiple inverted-V structures. It is shown that the hot stratification plasma mechanism offers a good description of the number of observed structures. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union