We investigate a 15‐day period in October 2011. Auroral observations by the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager instrument onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F16, F17, and F18 spacecraft indicate that the polar regions were covered by weak cusp‐aligned arc (CAA) emissions whenever the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle was small, |θ| < 45°, which amounted to 30% of the time. Simultaneous observations of ions and electrons in the tail by the Cluster C4 and Geotail spacecraft showed that during these intervals dense (≈1 cm−3) plasma was observed, even as far from the equatorial plane of the tail as |ZGSE| ≈ 13 RE. The ions had a pitch angle distribution peaking parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field and the electrons had pitch angles that peaked perpendicular to the field. We interpret the counter‐streaming ions and double loss‐cone electrons as evidence that the plasma was trapped on closed field lines, and acted as a source for the CAA emission across the polar regions. This suggests that the magnetosphere was almost entirely closed during these periods. We further argue that the closure occurred as a consequence of dual‐lobe reconnection. Our finding forces a significant re‐evaluation of the magnetic topology of the magnetosphere during periods of northwards IMF.

The open magnetic flux content of the magnetosphere varies during substorms as a result of dayside and nightside reconnection. The open flux can be calculated from the area of the polar cap, delineated by the open-closed field line boundary (OCB). This study presents a superposed epoch analysis of the location of the OCB and the change in the magnetic flux content in individual nightside MLT sectors during substorm growth, expansion, and recovery phases. Far ultraviolet (FUV) observations from the IMAGE satellite are used to derive a proxy of the OCB location.In the hour prior to substorm onset, the total nightside flux content increases by up to 0.12 GWb on average, resulting in an equatorward expansion of the OCB. Following substorm onset, the OCB contracts toward the pole as the open magnetic flux content decreases by up to 0.14 GWb on average, but the rate of decrease of the total nightside open flux content differs by 5-66% between the three IMAGE far ultraviolet instruments. The OCB does not contract poleward uniformly in all nightside magnetic local time (MLT) sectors after substorm onset. Close to the substorm onset MLT sector, the OCB contracts immediately following substorm onset; however, the OCB in more dawnward and duskward MLT sectors continues to expand equatorward for up to 120 minutes after substorm onset. Despite the continued increase in flux in these sectors after substorm onset, the total nightside flux content decreases immediately at substorm onset, indicating that the nightside reconnection rate exceeds the dayside rate following substorm onset.Plain Language Summary Earth's magnetic field shields us from the steady stream of particles originating from the Sun, which carry the Sun's magnetic field. At Earth, the solar magnetic field can break open our magnetic field and allow energy to build up inside Earth's magnetic field. This energy can be explosively released during substorms. The auroral oval is a ring of aurora around the magnetic poles which varies in size, shape, and brightness during substorms. As energy is building in the magnetic field, the auroral oval expands. As the energy is released, it contracts. Using satellite images of the auroral oval, we show that prior to substorm onset, the nightside auroral oval expands toward the equator. At substorm onset, the auroral oval also rapidly moves poleward. The poleward motion initially occurs in a localized region as the rest of the nightside oval continues to expand. The poleward motion then spreads eastward and westward around the entire nightside oval over the following 20-120 minutes. Our results show that although most of the auroral oval continues to expand equatorward after substorm onset, the total area of the auroral oval decreases resulting in an overall net decrease in the energy stored in the Earth's magnetic field.

The flux of > 2 MeV electrons at geosynchronous orbit is used by space weather forecasters as a key indicator of enhanced risk of damage to spacecraft in low, medium, or geosynchronous Earth orbits. We present a methodology that uses the amount of time a single input data set (solar wind data or geomagnetic indices) exceeds a given threshold to produce deterministic and probabilistic forecasts of the >2 MeV flux at GEO exceeding 1,000 or 10,000 cm−2 s−1 sr−1 within up to 10 days. By comparing our forecasts with measured fluxes from GOES 15 between 2014 and 2016, we determine the optimum forecast thresholds for deterministic and probabilistic forecasts by maximizing the receiver‐operating characteristic (ROC) and Brier skill scores, respectively. The training data set gives peak ROC scores of 0.71 to 0.87 and peak Brier skill scores of −0.03 to 0.32. Forecasts from AL give the highest skill scores for forecasts of up to 6 days. AL, solar wind pressure, or SYM‐H give the highest skill scores over 7–10 days. Hit rates range over 56–89% with false alarm rates of 11–53%. Applied to 2012, 2013, and 2017, our best forecasts have hit rates of 56–83% and false alarm rates of 10–20%. Further tuning of the forecasts may improve these. Our hit rates are comparable to those from operational fluence forecasts, that incorporate fluence measurements, but our false alarm rates are higher. This proof‐of‐concept shows that the geosynchronous electron flux can be forecast with a degree of success without incorporating a persistence element into the forecasts.