Articles | Volume 37, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-37-325-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-37-325-2019
Regular paper
 | 
14 May 2019
Regular paper |  | 14 May 2019

Quasi-separatrix layers induced by ballooning instability in the near-Earth magnetotail

Ping Zhu, Zechen Wang, Jun Chen, Xingting Yan, and Rui Liu

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Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (09 Apr 2019) by Christopher Owen
AR by Ping Zhu on behalf of the Authors (25 Apr 2019)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Publish as is (30 Apr 2019) by Christopher Owen
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Short summary
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.