Relationships between the ion flow speed, magnetic flux transport rate, and other plasma sheet parameters

[1] Eight years of Geotail particle and magnetic field measurements were separated into 12 data sets on the basis of the ion flow speed. The same measurements were separated into 12 other data sets using a magnetic flux transport sorting parameter. Magnetic field lines in the three-dimensional models created using these two sorting methods were dipolar when the flow or transport was fast and stretched into a taillike configuration when the flow or transport was slow. The magnitude of Bx measured in the outer central plasma sheet decreased weakly and Bz at the neutral sheet increased strongly as the magnetic flux transport rate increased. These observations showed that fast flow flux tubes typically were located near but earthward of the primary region in which localized region 1 sense currents were diverted to the ionosphere. The plasma density was low and the temperature was high when the flow was fast. The particle pressure depended only weakly on flow speed. The average entropy was higher at z = 0 during fast flow events than it was anywhere in the region that could be studied when flows were slow or moderate. The average entropy also decreased as jzj increased. These observations suggest that the plasma was irreversibly heated by the process that produced the fas