Geomagnetic Storms from Solar Eruptive Events

James Green
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

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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Presentation at the International Conference on Solar Eruptive Events, 
The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C., March 6-9, 2000