Paper#: 142
Poster #:
Session Name: Plenary
Room: West Ballroom
Day: Tuesday
Time: 8:30-8:55 a.m.
Abstract Title: Longstanding Problems on Magnetospheric Substorms and Storms
PresentSurname: Akasofu, S.-I.
All Authors: S.-I. Akasofu
Abstract : Longstanding Problems on Magnetospheric Substorms and Storms Longstanding problems on magnetospheric substorms and storms are reviewed, particularly in terms of substorm onset, the substorm-storm relationship, the asymmetric development of the main phase of storms, the directly driven/unloading issue, elusive magnetic reconnection, and others. It is suggested that the ionosphere must play an important role in substorm onset by triggering the dipolarization (not just a passive medium), regardless of how exciting plasma processes in the magnetotail happens to be (that is to say, the tail cannot wag the dog). Let us carefully identify a set of crucial observational facts on substorm onset that need to be explained. It is unfortunate in this connection that more work has not been done in distinguishing the directly driven and the unloading components. It is also pointed out that there is no doubt that substorms play a major role in developing an intense ring current belt (the community went astray too long on this obvious issue). The asymmetric development of the main phase has been known since 1918, but is getting much attention now on the basis of the new observations of the Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) emissions. It is shown that a new field-aligned index AF has a high correlation with both ENA and Dst.