Convection and Substorms: Paradigms of Magnetospheric Phenomenology

The magnetosphere is the region in which the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic field, the zone which screens the Earth from most of the harmful cosmic rays which daily bombard it. The Aurora Borealis, or Norhun lights, other such phenourena result from the interaction of particles in the solar wind and the magnetosphere. Planetary physicists, geophysicists, plasma astrophysicists, and scientists involved with astronautics all have a primary interest in the configuration and dynamics of the magnetosphere, and much research is devoted to convection (the circulation of solarwind plastma in the magnetiosphere) and substorms, which are linked to the aurorae and thought to stimulate convection. In this book, one of the leading scientists in the field presents a synthesis of current knowledge on convection and substorms and proposes that the Planetary physicists, geophysicists, plasma astrophysicists, and scientists involved with astronautics all have a primary interest in the configuration and dynamics of the magnetosphere, and much research is devoted to convection (the circulation of solarwind plastma in the magnetiosphere) and substorms, which are linked to the aurorae and thought to stimulate convection. In this book, one of the leading scientists in the field presents a synthesis of current knowledge on convection and substorms and proposes that the steady reconnection model be replaced by a model of multiple tail reconnection events, in which many mutually interdependent reconnections occur.