Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas

Abstract

AGU is publishing Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas, as volume 30 of the Geophysical Monograph Series (members $23.10; nonmembers $33.00). This volume is based on the Chapman Conference on Magnetic Reconnection, which was held at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in October 1983. Organization of that conference was first considered in early 1981, at a time when the body of evidence for the occurrence and importance of magnetic reconnection in earth's magnetosphere had already become impressive and was continuing to increase rapidly. There had not been a major conference on the subject since 1977, and the intervening years had seen important new strides being made. Initial plans called for holding the conference in October 1982, but conflicts with other conferences forced its postponement for 1 year. The 1-year postponement turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it permitted major new magnetospheric observations, made during that year by the ISEE 3 satellite, to be reported at the conference.