Ebook: Multiscale Processes in the Earth’s Magnetosphere: From Interball to Cluster

The past forty years of space research have seen a substantial improvement in our understanding of the Earth’s magnetosphere and its coupling with the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic ?eld (IMF). The magnetospheric str- ture has been mapped and major processes determining this structure have been de?ned. However, the picture obtained is too often static. We know how the magnetosphere forms via the interaction of the solar wind and IMF with the Earth’s magnetic ?eld. We can describe the steady state for various upstream conditions but do not really understand the dynamic processes leading from one state to another. The main dif?culty is that the magnetosphere is a comp- cated system with many time constants ranging from fractions of a second to days and the system rarely attains a steady state. Two decades ago, it became clear that further progress would require multi-point measurements. Since then, two multi-spacecraft missions have been launched — INTERBALL in 1995/96 and CLUSTER II in 2000. The objectives of these missions d- fered but were complementary: While CLUSTER is adapted to meso-scale processes, INTERBALL observed larger spatial and temporal scales. However, the number of papers taking advantage of both missions simul- neously is rather small.

The book is devoted to the achievements of two complementary multispacecraft missions – INTERBALL and CLUSTER II. The advantages of these powerful instruments for magnetospheric investigations are clearly shown together with problems that were or should be overcome in the mission management and data processing and interpretation.

The main goal of both missions is the investigation of coupling among different magnetospheric regions and, consequently, the core of the book deals with this topic. Nevertheless, various coupling processes are influenced by upstream conditions or triggered by solar wind or interplanetary magnetic field disturbances. The book also stresses the importance of the solar wind input on magnetospheric processes.

The Editors of the book hope that it will be useful for scientists involved in Solar– Terrestrial relations or Space Weather programs as well as for students of space or plasma physics. The book surveys present knowledge and puts it into context of the latest results of aforementioned missions. Since the book treats not only achievements but the problems of multispacecraft observations as well, it can serve as a tool for the planning of further missions.