Fig. 4

Geotail particle and field observations during thinning and expansion of the plasma sheet (upper panels) and GOES 14–15 and the MMS magnetic field observations during the dipolarization events (lower panels). a Total pressure (black) and magnetic pressure (brown), b X, Y, and Z components of the magnetic fields, c ion flows perpendicular to the magnetic field, and d parallel current determined from ion and electron moment data and energy spectra of ions streaming sunward (e), duskward (f), tailward (g), and dawnward (h) as observed by Geotail between 09:50 and 10:30 UT. The dashed lines in a–h show the beginnings of the disturbances associated with the exit and reentry of the plasma sheet. i Absolute value of the V, j D and k H components of the magnetic field from MMS 3 (black) GOES 15 (red) and GOES 14 (blue) between 09:56 and 10:06 UT. The dashed lines in i–k show the start of the rapid dipolarization fronts for each spacecraft. The horizontal bars highlight the disturbances in the D components associated with dipolarization (discussed in greater detail in the text)