GEM: The Relationship between Storms, Substorms, and Steady Magnetospheric Convections (SMCs)

Department Of Energy Albuquerque Operations Office, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

The Earth's magnetosphere exhibits a variety of behaviors that appear to represent distinct states of the magnetosphere. An alternative theory, however, is that these apparently disparate states are simply manifestations of a unified response of the magnetosphere to the solar wind driver. This work will clarify the situation by examining the relationship between magnetic substorms and magnetic storms and the relationship between magnetic substorms and steady magnetospheric convection (SMC). This project will examine these relationships primarily from a data analysis point of view, using data from global auroral imagers (Viking, Polar, and IMAGE satellites), neutral atom imagery (Polar and IMAGE), energetic particle measurements from the Los Alamos geosynchronous satellites and grand-based auroral and magnetic data.