Observations and Simulations of the M-I Coupling of Bursty Convection

The aim of the project is to establish how much of the magnetotail's total potential is due to flow bursts and how much of this potential maps to the ionosphere. In order to quantify these contributions, we need to develop a reliable method to measure the total cross-polar cap potential and the total reconnection rate across the entire polar cap boundary. This was the goal achieved in the first year of the grant. In the following section, we describe in more detail the activities leading to this goal.