On the structure of the tail magnetic field

The authors present a study comparing the magnetic field configuration in the magnetotail lobes with that in the plasma sheet boundary layer. The results indicate a systematic enhancement of the By component of the plasma sheet boundary layer field over that of the lobe. The value of such enhancement increases with distance from the midnight meridian plane and has the same sense in the northern and southern plasma sheet boundary layer. Such a By enhancement corresponds to a smaller rate of flaring of the magnetic field lines in the lobe with respect to the plasma sheet boundary layer. This observation is interpreted as a signature of field-aligned currents at the boundary. The direction of the field-aligned currents agrees with the nightside region 1 current system, which is the most poleward system in the nightside polar ionosphere at low altitude