MOTIVATION/GOALS: DURING GEOMAGNETIC STORMS ALFV N WAVES WITH PERHAPS THE LARGEST AMPLITUDES OF ANY FIELD VARIATIONS OBSERVED IN NEAR-EARTH SPACE ARE COMMONLY RECORDED [CHASTON ET AL. 2015]. THESE WAVES ARE BROADBAND IN NATURE WITH SCALES PERPENDICULAR TO THE MAGNETIC FIELD EXTENDING FROM MANY ION GYRO-RADII DOWN TO SUB-ION GYRO-RADII. THEY ARE CHARACTERIZED BY DISTINCT POWER-LAW FORM IN SPECTRAL ENERGY DENSITY WITH SCALE OR WAVENUMBER. THE WAVE-FIELDS ARE INTERMITTENT IN NATURE WITH THE OCCURRENCE OF IMPULSIVE LARGE AMPLITUDE COHERENT VARIATIONS SUPERIMPOSED ON A BACKGROUND OF LOWER AMPLITUDE BROADBAND OSCILLATIONS. THESE WAVES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO DRIVE DRAMATIC CHANGES IN ION ENERGY DENSITY IN THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE [CHASTON ET AL. 2016]. THIS PROCESS REQUIRES CONTINUAL REPLENISHMENT OF WAVE ENERGY ON KINETIC SCALES. HOW THIS OCCURS IS UNKNOWN. HOWEVER THE OBSERVED POWER-LAW SCALING OF SPECTRAL ENERGY DENSITY SUGGESTS THIS REPLENISHMENT MAY OCCUR VIA A CASCADE WHEREBY ENERGY IS TRANSFERRED FROM LARGE ENERGY CONTAINING SCALES TO THE KINETIC SCALES WHERE THE ION ENERGIZATION PROCEEDS. THEREFORE WE PROPOSE TO DETERMINE: 1. WHAT DRIVES THE TRANSPORT OF ENERGY ACROSS SCALES IN THE ALFV NIC FIELD FLUCTUATIONS OBSERVED WITHIN THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE DURING GEOMAGNETICALLY DISTURBED TIMES? 2. WHAT PROCESSES CAUSE THE OBSERVED INTERMITTENCY AND THE FORMATION OF COHERENT STRUCTURES? RELEVANCE: THIS RESEARCH GOES BEYOND THE MISSION GOALS OF THE VAN ALLEN PROBES TO ADDRESS THE GOALS OF THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY TO DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS AND TO DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. THE ENERGY TRANSPORT PROCESSES WE SEEK TO EXPLORE COUPLE THE IONOSPHERE TO THE MAGNETOSPHERE VIA PROCESSES FUNDAMENTAL TO THE PLASMA ENVIRONMENT OF THE SPACE. METHODOLOGY: WE WILL ANALYZE FIELD AND PLASMA OBSERVATIONS FROM THE VAN ALLEN PROBES SUPPORTED BY A 3-D REDUCED MHD SIMULATION MODEL. THE OBSERVATION INTERVALS WILL BE IDENTIFIED USING A PRE-EXISTING DATABASE [CHASTON ET AL. 2015] TO DEFINE A STATISTICAL SAMPLE OF WAVE EVENTS FOR WHICH HIGH QUALITY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD AND PLASMA DATA ARE AVAILABLE. THE WAVE FIELDS WILL BE ANALYZED TO EXTRACT THE GEOMETRY OF THE FIELD STRUCTURES IDENTIFY THE EXCHANGE OF ENERGY ACROSS SCALES AND QUANTIFY THE OCCURRENCE OF INTERMITTENCY. THIS WILL BE PERFORMED THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF INNOVATIVE WAVELET BASED BI/TRI-SPECTRAL AND CROSS SPECTRAL TIME SERIES ANALYSIS APPROACHES. THESE RESULTS WILL CHARACTERIZE THE NATURE OF THE FIELD STRUCTURES THE PROPERTIES OF THE CASCADE AND IDENTIFY THE OPERATION NON-LINEAR COUPLINGS AND OF INTERMITTENCY. UNDERSTANDING WILL BE FACILITATED THROUGH THE USE OF A 3-D NON-LINEAR FLUID-KINETIC SIMULATION MODEL FOR THE PLASMAS OF THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE. THE SIMULATION APPROACH ALLOWS A DETAILED CONSIDERATION OF THE NON-LINEAR COUPLING BETWEEN ALFV N WAVES PROPAGATING ALONG THE NEARLY DIPOLE FIELD-LINES OF THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE PLASMA INSTABILITIES AND THE CONSEQUENT CASCADE TO SMALL SCALES. IMPORTANTLY IT FACILITATES CONSIDERATION OF PLASMA INHOMOGENEITY ALONG THE WHOLE INNER MAGNETOSPHERIC FLUX-TUBE.