Poleward leaping auroras, the substorm expansive and recovery phases and the recovery of the plasma sheet

The auroral motions and geomagnetic changes the characterize the substorm`s expansive phase, maximum epoch, and recovery phase are discussed in the context of their possible associations with the dropout and, especially, the recovery of the magnetotail plasma sheet. The evidence that there may be an inordinately sudden large poleward excursion or displacement (a poleward leap) of the electrojet and the auroras at the expansive phase-recovery phase transition is described. The close temporal association of these signatures with the recovery of the plasma sheet, observed on many occasions, suggests a causal relationship between substorm maximum epoch and recovery phase on the one hand and plasma sheet recovery on the other.