The ground signatures of the expansion phase during multiple onset substorms

The ground signatures of multiple onset substorms have been investigated in night-side magnetograms from low to high latitudes and in observations of auroral-zone electron precipitation. Pi 2 onsets at three widely spaced stations are used for accurate timing of each onset. It is found that an evening auroral arc brightens at the onset of each Pi 2 train, also in the case of weak pulsations before the first low-latitude positive bay onset. The latter onset is, on the other hand, associated with the initiation of a westward travelling surge, and field-aligned currents moving with the surge cause a similar westward movement of the magnetic signatures in subauroral and low-latitude magnetograms. At the arrival of a surge at an evening side observatory, the westward electrojet is displaced rapidly poleward, with a sharp increase in local bay activity and high-energy electron precipitation. The westward expansion of new activity appears as a continuous motion along the oval and is associated with a local poleward displacement of the westward electrojet. Consecutive surge initiation and low-latitude onsets do not, however, always occur progressively farther west. Thus, the development of the expansion phase consists of a series of intensifications and auroral surge formations at 10–20 min intervals. Near the time of maximum auroral-zone bay activity and apparently also when maximum westward extent is reached, the whole nighttime oval seems to be shifted poleward. Our findings are thus not consistent with the Wiens and Rostoker (1975) northward-westward stepping model. An alternative model is therefore presented based on the fundamental role of the westward travelling surge in carrying substorm activity westward along the oval. The associated field-aligned current system will perturb the pre-existing magnetospheric current wedge and cause positive bay increases at low latitudes and westward moving magnetic signatures at subauroral stations.