Comparative study of flares and substorms Original Research Article

Comparative studies of solar flares and substorms are useful in obtaining comprehensive understanding of magnetic reconnection processes, since flare studies give us better information on macroscopic processes such as global changes of magnetic field configuration while substorm studies give us more detailed knowledge on microscopic processes. Recent spacecraft observations both for magnetospheric substorms and solar flares have dramatically enriched our understanding for physical processes occurring during these interesting phenomena. We first summarize keys of these new observations from the magnetotail studies, and try to compare them with those from the solar flare studies on a common physical basis.