A Statistical Study of Near‐Earth Magnetotail Evolution During Pseudosubstorms and Substorms With THEMIS Data

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Pseudosubstorms (pseudobreakups) and substorms are similar phenomena. In terms of auroral morphology, however, the former are not accompanied by poleward expansion, while the latter are. To understand what causes this difference, we studied temporal and spatial development of the near‐Earth magnetotail at <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgra55411-math-0001.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra55411:jgra55411-math-0001" /> to <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgra55411-math-0002.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra55411:jgra55411-math-0002" /> around pseudosubstorm and substorm onsets, based on superposed epoch analysis of Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) data. We find that the earthward flow begins to increase at <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgra55411-math-0003.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra55411:jgra55411-math-0003" /> to <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgra55411-math-0004.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra55411:jgra55411-math-0004" /> just before onset and dipolarization for both pseudosubstorms and substorms, possibly due to near‐Earth magnetic reconnection or the preceding relaxation of the thin current sheet in a tailward region, but the earthward flow is slower for pseudosubstorms than for substorms. Dipolarization, together with magnetic field fluctuation, is nearly the same at <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgra55411-math-0005.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra55411:jgra55411-math-0005" /> for both cases, but it is weaker at other distances for pseudosubstorms than for substorms. This result suggests that the current disruption related to dipolarization does not expand tailward and hence auroral poleward expansion does not occur for pseudosubstorms. Furthermore, the total pressure is larger at <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgra55411-math-0006.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra55411:jgra55411-math-0006" /> to <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgra55411-math-0007.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra55411:jgra55411-math-0007" /> for several minutes before onset for substorms than for pseudosubstorms. The total pressure gradient increases more largely after onset for substorms than for pseudosubstorms. We suggest that these differences are important factors for determining whether ballooning instability causing current disruption grows in a wide area, that is, whether the initial action develops into a substorm or subsides as a pseudosubstorm.</jats:p>