Our research explores a new method for identifying where and when the magnetic field lines in Earth's magnetotail may change its topology through the reconnection process, during which a sudden release of magnetic energy can lead to the brightening of aurora, a process called substorm. Traditionally, the magnetic reconnection was often interpreted using a two-dimensional model, which however does not capture the intrinsically three-dimensional nature of reconnection physics, as we have revealed.

We analysed the turbulent processes in the Earth's magnetotail in the regions of magnetic field dipolarization and compared them with known models. We used spectral and statistical methods for analysis measurements from the Cluster-II mission. We have obtained a significant difference for turbulent processes depending on observed scales. Our results can be interesting for classification of the turbulent processes in both hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics environments.

The Earth's magnetic field is shaped by the solar wind. On the dayside the field is compressed and on the nightside it is stretched as a long tail. The tail has been observed to occasionally undergo flapping motions, but the origin of these motions is not understood. We study the flapping using a numerical simulation of the near-Earth space. We present a possible explanation for how the flapping could be initiated by a passing disturbance and then maintained as a standing wave.

The Harris–Fadeev–Kan–Manankova family of exact two-dimensional equilibria is generalized to reproduce the slow decrease of the normal magnetic component in the tailward direction, and the magnetotail current sheet bending and shifting in the vertical plane, arising from the Earth dipole tilting and the solar wind nonradial propagation. The analytical solution is found to fit the empirical T96 model, especially, at distances beyond 10–15 Earth radii at high levels of magnetospheric activity.