Magnetic storm investigated as chain of processes from Sun to Earth

Abstract

Exciting new data returned by the Yohkoh and Ulysses spacecraft on the dynamics of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and how they propagate in the interplanetary medium are just a few of the developments in magnetic storm research discussed in February at a Chapman Conference in Pasadena, Calif. In spite of the importance of magnetic storms to the solar‐terrestrial relationship, this was, surprisingly, the first large‐scale international conference ever held on this topic. More than 100 scientists from 20 countries attended. A press conference was held to alert the public of the most important developments in magnetic storm research.Although the purpose of the conference was to present the diverse phenomena associated with magnetic storms within the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere, some preliminary approaches for unified research in these domains were also presented, signaling the emergence of an exciting area of research in the field of solar‐terrestrial relations. Current efforts to forecast magnetic storms and their main ground effects were also discussed.