Location and Timing of Magnetic Reconnections in Earth's Magnetotail: Accomplishments of the 29‐Year Geotail Near‐Earth Magnetotail Survey

Abstract

The spacecraft Geotail surveyed the near‐Earth plasma sheet from XGSM = −10 to −31 RE and YGSM = −20 to +20 RE during the period from 1994 to 2022. It observed 243 magnetic reconnection events and 785 tailward flow events under various solar wind conditions during plasma sheet residence time of over 23,000 hr. Magnetic reconnections associated with the onset of magnetospheric substorms occur mostly in the range XGSM = −23 to −31 RE. When the solar wind is intense and high substorm activities continue, magnetic reconnection can occur closer to the Earth. The YGSM locations of magnetic reconnections depend on the solar wind conditions and on previous substorm activity. Under normal solar wind conditions, magnetic reconnection occurs preferentially in the pre‐midnight plasma sheet. Under conditions with intense (weak) solar wind energy input, however, magnetic reconnection can occur in the post‐midnight (duskside) plasma sheet. Continuous substorm activity tends to shift the magnetic reconnection site duskward. The plasma sheet thinning proceeds faster under intense solar wind conditions, and the loading process that provides the preconditions for magnetic reconnection becomes shorter. When magnetic flux piles up during a prolonged period with a strongly northward‐oriented interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz, the time necessary to provide the preconditions for magnetic reconnection becomes longer. Although the solar wind conditions are the primary factors that control the location and timing of magnetic reconnections, the plasma sheet conditions created by preceding substorm activity or the strongly northward IMF Bz can modify the solar wind control.