Internal structure of the geomagnetic neutral sheet.

A study of the internal structure of the neutral sheet in the geomagnetic tail has been made from data obtained by the NASA-GSFC magnetic-field experiment on the Explorer 34 spacecraft during its tail passage in the first half of 1968. The data used in the analysis are individual measurements of the vector magnetic field at 2.56-sec intervals. The experimental results consist of statistical studies of relevant properties of the magnetic field as a function of field magnitude. The results do not support nearly one-dimensional field models with characteristic lengths for field variation parallel to the neutral sheet much larger than the neutral-sheet width. The principal conclusion from the data points toward consistency with a quasi-periodic (possibly turbulent) structure with a tendency to formation of magnetic loops as one might expect from stability studies.