Characteristics of the lobe plasma convection enhancements around Pi2 substorm onset have been clarified with Geotail data. We identified 92 lobe substorm onset events within 5 RE from an estimated neutral sheet from X=-10 to -35 RE, and we found 27 convection enhancement events. These events were categorized into two types depending on whether the magnetic field tilts northward or southward in coincidence with intensity decrease. The former type was identified in 12 of the 27 and found to be generally at shorter distances from the Earth than the latter. The frequencies of the lobe observations in the above Z width are small (≤11%); that is, the plasma sheet usually occurs. In this situation, 80% of the 27 are identified only within 2.5 RE from the estimated neutral sheet. This indicates that the convection enhancement events occur in association with the lobe appearance in the vicinity of the neutral sheet. This is also recognized in the X-Y distribution of the low-latitude lobe observation; the relatively high frequencies of ≥4% which have a dawn-dusk asymmetry roughly correspond to the event location. Examination of the convection speed shows that the peak lies in 0.04VA to 0.1VA (VA is the local Alfv¿n velocity) and that the duration is 1--3 min for most cases. Identification probability of the convection enhancement events was also examined. Both types of events have very similar occurrence probability in Y=0--10 RE, which is consistent with an interpretation that both are created by a common process, i.e., lobe reconnection in the near-Earth neutral line (NENL). For the dawnside of this Y region, however, the southward field tilting type more often appears than the other, implying that the convection enhancements occur in an asymmetric manner with respect to the NENL. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union