The Relationship Between Substorms, SMCs, and Storms

Henderson, M. G., G. D. Reeves, R. Skoug, M. F. Thomsen

It is widely believed that substorms, SMCs, and storms are all very
distinct magnetospheric phenomena and that each is associated with
"fundamentally different physical processes." Contrary to this view,
we argue that these phenomena all display remarkably similar
characteristics and that there is in fact very good evidence to
indicate that they are much more closely related to one another than
is commonly recognized. We review the basic observational features
attributed to each type of disturbance and show how they can be
viewed in terms of a single unified phenomenological framework.

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To be presented at the Magnetospheric Imaging Workshop, 
Yosemite National Park, California, U.S.A., Feb. 5-8, 2002.