Multiscale Nature of the Magnetotail Reconnection Onset

Mining of substorm magnetic field data reveals the formation of two X-lines preceded by the flux accumulation at the tailward end of a thin current sheet (TCS). Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations guided by these pre-onset reconnection features are performed, taking also into account weak external driving, negative charging of TCS and domination of electrons as current carriers. Simulations reveal an interesting multiscale picture. On the global scale, they show the formation of two X-lines, with stronger magnetic field variations and inhomogeneous electric fields found closer to Earth. The X-line appearance is preceded by the formation of two diverging electron outflow regions embedded into a single diverging ion outflow pattern and transforming into faster electron-scale reconnection jets after the onset. Distributions of the agyrotropy parameters suggest that reconnection is provided by ion and then electron demagnetization. The bulk flow and agyrotropy distributions are consistent with MMS observations.