The terrestrial auroras are in large part produced by the field-aligned currents (FACs) that transmit stress from the magnetosphere to the ionosphere as a consequence of solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Substorms and steady magnetospheric convection events, as important modes of magnetospheric response to the SW-M-I interaction, produce characteristic signatures in the FACs and auroras. In this study we employ measurements of FACs from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) and the auroras from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) SSUSI instrument to investigate the differences and similarities in morphology and dynamics produced by impulsive and steady magnetotail reconnection, and discuss the relationship between these two modes of coupling.