In-situ measurement of the substorm onset instability

Abstract:

The substorm is arguably the major mode of variability in near-Earth Space which unpredictably dissipates a considerable and variable amount of energy into the near-Earth magnetosphere and ionosphere. What process or processes determine when this energy is released is uncertain, although it is evident that both near-Earth plasma instability and magnetotail reconnection play a role in this energy release. Much emphasis has recently been placed on the role of magnetic reconnection in substorms, we focus here on observations of the unmistakeable signs of a plasma instability acting at substorm onset.

Using data from the THEMIS spacecraft, we show that electromagnetic waves grow in the magnetotail at the expense of the local electron and ion thermal energy. The wave growth in space is the direct counterpart to the wave growth seen at the substorm onset location at the ionosphere, as measured by the CARISMA and THEMIS magnetometers and THEMIS all-sky-imagers. We present evidence that the free energy source for the instability is associated with the electron and ion thermal energy, and not the local electron or ion flow energy.