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Forbes et al. 1981
Forbes, T.G., Hones, E.M., Bame, S.J., Asbridge, J.R., Paschmann, G., Sckopke, N. and Russell, C.T. (1981). Evidence for the tailward retreat of a magnetic neutral line in the magnetotail during substorm recovery. Geophysical Research Letters 8: doi: 10.1029/GL008i003p00261. issn: 0094-8276.

On several occasions during the recovery phase of substorms the Los Alamos/MPI analyzers on the ISEE 1 and 2 satellites have observed protons counter-streaming along the magnetic field within about 1 Re of the northern (upper) surface of the plasma sheet. We present data for one of these periods (04:00--04:30, March 1, 1978) which strongly suggest that the counter-streaming of the protons results from the mirroring of particles moving Earthward along the magnetic field. Only the Earthward flow is observed when the satellites first encounter the plasma sheet. But about 2 minutes after the entry into the plasma sheet the return tailward flow appears while the Earthward flow continues. The speeds of both the Earthward and tailward moving populations thereafter show a systematic decrease with time with the tailward speed being persistently ~200 km/sec greater than the earthward speed. Analysis of the correction between the speeds of the two populations shows that the decrease in speed results from the relative motion of the satellites with respect to a spatial gradient in the velocity at the boundary of the plasma sheet. We interpret the time delay between the onset of the Earthward and tailward streaming protons and the persistent difference between their speeds as evidence that the source of the Earthward flow is moving tailwards into magnetic field lines mapping to progressively higher polar latitudes as substorm recovery proceeds and we suggest that the source is the region of magnetic reconnection associated with a tailward retreating neutral line.

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Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
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American Geophysical Union
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