Early multiplatform results from the International Solar Terrestrial Physics/Global Geospace Science (ISTP/GGS) Program

Abstract

This issue of the Geophysical Research Letters is the third† to contain a special section devoted to science results from the Global Geospace Science (GGS) Program [Acuna et al, 1995], a key component of the International Solar Terrestrial Physics Program. Designed to provide coverage of key regions of geospace, the GGS suite of spacecraft (WIND, POLAR, and GEOTAIL), along with other currently operational spacecraft, and related groundbased and theoretical support assets are intended to make a significant improvement in our understanding of the flow of energy, mass, and momentum in the solar‐terrestrial environment.With the WIND spacecraft monitoring the upstream interplanetary medium and providing the solar wind input to the magnetosphere, with POLAR measuring plasma input into the magnetosphere and monitoring the Earth's auroral signature, and GEOTAIL observing the geomagnetic tail response, the principal regions of geospace where energy is transported and stored are sampled by an advanced array of instruments. Simultaneous groundbased investigations and theoretical and global modelling round out the synergistic approach to answering key questions concerning how individual parts of this closely‐coupled system work together. The papers in this special section of GRL emphasize this multi‐spacecraft, multi‐discipline approach to solar‐terrestrial observations. The ISTP/GGS program works best when all the elements are working together, and in this issue the value of coordinated, simultaneous observations with multiple platforms is amply demonstrated.