Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net 1023-5809 1607-7946 16 3 2009 10.5194/npg-16-431-2009 http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/16/431/2009/ http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/16/431/2009/npg-16-431-2009.html http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/16/431/2009/npg-16-431-2009.pdf 431 442 2009-06-25 Electrostatic solitary waves in current layers: from Cluster observations during a super-substorm to beam experiments at the LAPD J. S. Pickett pickett@uiowa.edu L.-J. Chen O. Santolík S. Grimald B. Lavraud O. P. Verkhoglyadova B. T. Tsurutani B. Lefebvre A. Fazakerley G. S. Lakhina S. S. Ghosh B. Grison P. M. E. Décréau D. A. Gurnett R. Torbert N. Cornilleau-Wehrlin I. Dandouras E. Lucek Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Prague, Czech Republic Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Prague, Czech Republic Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, UK Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Université de Toulouse (UPS), France Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5187, Toulouse, France Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA CSPAR, University of Alabama, Huntsville, Alabama, USA Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, New Panvel (W), Navi Mumbai, India LPP-CNRS, Vélizy, France ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands LPC<SMALL>2</SMALL>E, CNRS et Université d'Orléans, Orléans, France Station de Radioastronomie de Nançay, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Nançay, France The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, UK Electrostatic Solitary Waves (ESWs) have been observed by several spacecraft in the current layers of Earth's magnetosphere since 1982. ESWs are manifested as isolated pulses (one wave period) in the high time resolution waveform data obtained on these spacecraft. They are thus nonlinear structures generated out of nonlinear instabilities and processes. We report the first observations of ESWs associated with the onset of a super-substorm that occurred on 24 August 2005 while the Cluster spacecraft were located in the magnetotail at around 18–19 <i>R_E</i> and moving northward from the plasma sheet to the lobes. These ESWs were detected in the waveform data of the WBD plasma wave receiver on three of the Cluster spacecraft. The majority of the ESWs were detected about 5 min after the super-substorm onset during which time 1) the PEACE electron instrument detected significant field-aligned electron fluxes from a few 100 eV to 3.5 keV, 2) the EDI instrument detected bursts of field-aligned electron currents, 3) the FGM instrument detected substantial magnetic fluctuations and the presence of Alfvén waves, 4) the STAFF experiment detected broadband electric and magnetic waves, ion cyclotron waves and whistler mode waves, and 5) CIS detected nearly comparable densities of H+ and O+ ions and a large tailward H+ velocity. We compare the characteristics of the ESWs observed during this event to those created in the laboratory at the University of California-Los Angeles Plasma Device (LAPD) with an electron beam. 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