Cluster and SuperDARN Observations of Flux Transport in the Magnetotail

Flux transport in the geomagnetic tail is usually associated with magnetospheric substorms. Bursty bulk flows, for example, have been observed during all substorm phases. In the ionosphere, evidence of flux transport has also been observed during non-substorm intervals, often during extended intervals of northward IMF. In the plasma sheet, flux transport is characterised by regions of enhanced flow velocity in a direction perpendicular to the magnetic field. At the ionospheric footprint of these regions enhancements in the mesoscale electric field are observed which are a result of both the electric field imposed by the magnetosphere and enhancements in conductivity. In the present study we use Cluster observations of the central plasma sheet flows and SuperDARN radar observations of the conjugate ionosphere to investigate the nature of tail 'flux transport events' both locally, and from the larger-scale perspective of their associated ionospheric convection.