- Nakamura, R;
- Sergeev, VA;
- Baumjohann, W;
- Plaschke, F;
- Magnes, W;
- Fischer, D;
- Varsani, A;
- Schmid, D;
- Nakamura, TKM;
- Russell, CT;
- Strangeway, RJ;
- Leinweber, HK;
- Le, G;
- Bromund, KR;
- Pollock, CJ;
- Giles, BL;
- Dorelli, JC;
- Gershman, DJ;
- Paterson, W;
- Avanov, LA;
- Fuselier, SA;
- Genestreti, K;
- Burch, JL;
- Torbert, RB;
- Chutter, M;
- Argall, MR;
- Anderson, BJ;
- Lindqvist, P-A;
- Marklund, GT;
- Khotyaintsev, YV;
- Mauk, BH;
- Cohen, IJ;
- Baker, DN;
- Jaynes, AN;
- Ergun, RE;
- Singer, HJ;
- Slavin, JA;
- Kepko, EL;
- Moore, TE;
- Lavraud, B;
- Coffey, V;
- Saito, Y
We report on field-aligned current observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) during two major substorms on 23 June 2015. Small-scale field-aligned currents were found embedded in fluctuating PSBL flux tubes near the separatrix region. We resolve, for the first time, short-lived earthward (downward) intense field-aligned current sheets with thicknesses of a few tens of kilometers, which are well below the ion scale, on flux tubes moving equatorward/earthward during outward plasma sheet expansion. They coincide with upward field-aligned electron beams with energies of a few hundred eV. These electrons are most likely due to acceleration associated with a reconnection jet or high-energy ion beam-produced disturbances. The observations highlight coupling of multiscale processes in PSBL as a consequence of magnetotail reconnection.