Merging Mesoscale Magnetotail Features and Ground B‐Field Perturbation Network Connectivity During Substorm Activity

The connection between the magnetosphere and ionosphere is particularly dynamic during substorms. Mesoscale features in the magnetotail are consistent with substorm activity, including magnetic reconnection in the tail, flow channels, and particle injections. Observations of substorm related phenomena can be made using energetic neutral atom (ENA) imagers, in situ satellite measurements, and ground based magnetic field perturbation measurements. Analysis of the 10 October 2014 isolated substorm event is presented. Comparison of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the features seen in equatorial maps generated from ENA data are made with inner magnetosphere in situ measurements and ionospheric features with network analysis of the SuperMAG data. An MHD simulation of the event using OpenGGCM is also compared with the data. Key Points Mesoscale features are observed in the magnetotail in energetic neutral atom (ENA) observations and MHD simulations during substorm onset and particle injections Merging of mesoscale features observed in ENA data and simulations Network connectivity of ground magnetic field perturbations spatially consistent with features observed in the magnetotail and simulations