Recent observations from the THEMIS mission have focused attention on thetiming of events in the magnetotail during magnetospheric substorms andother periods of geomagnetic activity. Standard models of substorms havegenerally emphasized convective flows as the major source of energy andmomentum transport; however, Alfvén wave propagation can also be animportant transport mechanism. The propagation of Alfvén waves and therelated field-aligned currents are studied by means of ideal MHD simulationof the tail. Perturbations of the cross-tail current can lead to thegeneration of such waves, and the resulting propagation both through thetail and along the plasma sheet boundary layer can lead to enhancedtransport. Implications of this wave propagation on the interpretation ofresults from the THEMIS mission will be discussed.
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