Abstract
We present results of two-dimensional M1113-simulations considering onset and evolution of non-linear resistive instabilities in the near-Earth plasma sheet. We use start configurations with and without local flaring which describe the near-earth plasma sheet including the Earth's dipole field explicitly. These equilibria are linearly stable against large scale tearing instability. This allows to study non-linear instabilities which are not found in usual tail simulations including both plasma sheet and lobe. These instabilities andthe corresponding magneticreconnection occur after a phase of slow diffusive evolution. The corresponding plasma flow differs significantly from the usual flow pattern of a large scale tearing instability. In general, we find earthward flow even tailwards of the reconnection X-line. The results show that a near-Earth flaring of field lines can yield a significant non-linear destabilizing effect.
