Diagram from the study.
Sketch of reconnection in the magnetotail (modified from Lindstedt et al. [2009]). The red, black, and green satellite-like symbols correspond to the locations of satellites in the reconnection plane for the high-speed electron flow events studied. Credit: Liu et al. [2025], Figure 4 (modified)
Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors.
Source: AGU Advances

Magnetotail high-speed electron flows are found to be associated with magnetic field line reconnection in Earth’s magnetotail. They are found to be widely distributed using high-resolution data from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission.

As described in Liu et al. [2025], our knowledge of the electron physics of magnetic field line reconnection has been greatly enhanced by the in-situ 4-spacecraft NASA MMS measurements in a way that cannot be achieved directly in solar eruptions. A better understanding of these eruptions, both solar flares and coronal mass ejections, when and under what circumstances they occur, has important societal implications for technological systems subject to space weather.

Citation: Liu, H., Li, W., Tang, B., Norgren, C., Liu, K., Khotyaintsev, Y. V., et al. (2025). High-speed electron flows in the Earth magnetotail. AGU Advances, 6, e2024AV001549. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024AV001549

—Mary Hudson, Editor, AGU Advances

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