Spatial relations of mantle and plasma sheet

This paper presents the first purely data-based cross-sectional maps of the magnetotail and surrounding magnetosheath showing the relative locations of the magnetosheath, the lobes, the mantles, and the plasma sheet. The maps are based on newly digitized speed, density, and temperature data from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) plasma instrument on IMP 8. They cover the 2-year interval for which ISEE 3 and LANL plasma data overlap. They refer to the usual interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) |B_y| > IMF |B_z| situation and are given in the standard IMF B_y > 0 format. They reveal that the plasma sheet and the mantels overlap on the north-dawn and south-dusk flanks. Magnetically, these overlap regions have open-like properties. The maps suggest that the plasma sheet extends to polar latitudes along the south-dawn and north-dusk magnetotail flanks for IMF B_y > 0. These segments also contain the flank expressions of the cross-tail S and the x-type nulls associated with the magnetosphere's magnetic separator line, both found in prior studies.