Substorms in the Magnetosphere

Abstract

A working definition of substorms was provided, the primary relationships within the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system as related to substorms was considered, and the role substorm studies play in the overall discipline of solar-terrestrial research was clarified. The question of which aspects of magnetospheric activity are directly driven by solar wind and which aspects of this activity represented an unloading process for previously stored solar wind energy were examined.