Pressure balance between the lobe and the plasma sheet in the distant magnetotail is statistically studied with data obtained by the Geotail spacecraft. We selected events where the spacecraft traversed from the lobe to the neutral sheet and vice versa. As a result, we have found that the total pressure variations can be categorized by three types. Type 1, in which the total pressure is kept almost constant during the crossings, contains about a half of all events. This type is regarded as an average static feature of the distant magnetotail. Type 2 and Type 3 events are characterized by enhancement and depression of the total pressure in the plasma sheet, respectively. While the excess total pressure in Type 2 events can be explained by the passage of a plasmoid during the crossing, characteristics of Type 3 events suggest that they are located near the reconnection region. Depression of the total pressure indicates that part of the total pressure (energy density) is converted into plasma kinetic energy across a slow-mode shock boundary. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union