Structure and evolution of the current sheet by multi-spacecraft observations

On April 22, 1979, from 0840 to 1018 UT, ISEE 1, ISEE 2 and IMP 8 were all in or near the magnetotail current sheet at 17 Re, 16 Re and 35 Re respectively while ISEE 3 monitored the solar wind 206 Re upstream of the Earth. A global perspective of the four spacecraft observations and of the ground magnetic records is presented in this paper. The hyperbolic tangent current sheet model of Harris has been used to calculate the current sheet thickness and to analyze the plasma distribution in the vertical direction. It is found that during this event the current sheet thickness varied from 2.5 Re to 1.5 Re for northward IMF but thinned abruptly to 0.5 Re when the IMF turned southward