Are small-scale field-aligned currents and magnetosheath-like particle precipitation signatures of the same low-altitude cusp?

We find that the actually observed latitude of the particle cusp matches well the statistically expected latitude while the current cusp appears to cover most of the statistical cusp and also a ≈1° wide section beyond the equatorward boundary of the statistical cusp. This leads us to suggest that intense small-scale field-aligned currents are generated in the cusp but also in the transition zone between the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) and the cusp, probably within both regimes, the cusp and the open LLBL. The small-scale field-aligned currents are possibly a consequence of turbulence and/or instabilities associated with the process of opening previously closed magnetospheric field lines and merging them with the interplanetary magnetic field.