Geomagnetic substorm association of plasmoids

The relationship of geomagnetic substorms and plasmoids is examined by determining the correlation of the 366 plasmoids identified by Moldwin and Hughes (1992) with ground auroral zone magnetograms and geosynchronous particle data signatures of substorm onsets. Over 84% of the plasmoid events occurred between 5 and 60 min after a substorm onset. We also find near one‐to‐one correlation between large isolated substorm signatures in the near‐Earth region and signatures consistent with a passing plasmoid in the distant tail (i.e., a traveling compression region, or an actual plasmoid observation). However, there does not appear to be an absolute correspondence of every substorm onset to a plasmoid signature in the deep tail especially for periods of prolonged disturbance that have multiple substorm onsets. A correlation of interplanetary magnetic field Bz south with plasmoid observations was also found. The locations of the near‐ and far‐Earth reconnection sites are estimated using the time of flight of the plasmoids from substorm onset to their observation at ISEE 3. The estimates of the near‐ and far‐Earth reconnection sites are highly variable and range from 10 to 140 RE.