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Science 12 June 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5933, p. 1391
DOI: 10.1126/science.1167726
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Technical Comments

Comment on "Tail Reconnection Triggering Substorm Onset"

A. T. Y. Lui

Angelopoulos et al. (Research Articles, 15 August 2008, p. 931) reported that magnetic reconnection in Earth’s magnetotail triggered the onset of a magnetospheric substorm. We provide evidence that (i) near-Earth current disruption, occurring before the conventional tail reconnection signatures, triggered the onset; (ii) the observed auroral intensification and tail reconnection are not causally linked; and (iii) the onset they identified is a continuation of earlier substorm activities.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723–6099, USA.

E-mail: Tony.Lui{at}jhuapl.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)