Geomagnetic storms from solar eruptive events

James Green

Abstract

         Paper: Geomagnetic storms have been studied intensely for over 30 years.  To understand the effects of solar eruptive events on the magnetosphere we have almost exclusively relied upon in situ measurements in the magnetosphere and solar wind.  The application of remote sensing techniques has a high potential of obtaining unprecedented data on the dynamics of geomagnetic storm and substorm processes and in particular determining the relationship between a variety of global phenomena.

The Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission will have an impressive array of remote sensing instruments which will image a number of important phenomena such as the auroral zone, the geocorona, the ring current, the plasmasphere, auroral ion fountain, and the magnetopause on a time scale of 5 minutes.  IMAGE will be launched on February 15, 2000 and placed in a polar orbit with apogee of about 7 Earth radii (RE) where it will be well situated to observe the structure and dynamics of the magnetospheric boundaries during geomagnetic storms. This talk will review some of the key aspects of geomagnetic storms resulting from solar eruptive events and how the IMAGE data may provide a revolutionary look at this phenomenon.
 

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