D. G. Sibeck, Convener of the Symposium
This special issue presents papers corresponding to eight invited talks during the "Foreshock, Bow Shock, Magnetosheath, Magnetopause, Cusp: Structure, Transients and Waves" symposium of the IUGG meeting held in Birmingham, England from July 21 to 24, 1999. To emphasize the fact that solar wind mass, energy, and momentum flow through the magnetosphere and are deposited in the ionosphere, the symposium was jointly organized by representatives from the Ionospheric, Magnetospheric, and Solar Wind and Interplanetary Field communities, corresponding to IAGA Divisions II, III, and IV.
The topics covered by the papers published in this special issue run the gamut of those presented in the symposium and demonstrate the need for a global viewpoint in considering solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Collier et al. consider the reliability of monitors at various upstream distances in determining the arrival time and characteristics of the solar wind input into the magnetosphere. Kaymaz and Sibeck discuss the effects of processes within the Earth's foreshock upon the solar wind shortly prior to its interaction with the bow shock and magnetosphere. Schwartz et al. present a survey of particular dramatic foreshock events, known as hot flow anomalies, that severely disrupt the solar wind flow. Chen and Fritz present observations of energetic particles in the cusp, discuss generation mechanisms, and consider consequences for the magnetosphere. Denton considered ULF waves in the magnetosheath and showed that the waves have an appreciable feedback on the macroscopic plasma, affecting the temperature ratio and possibly reconnection and transport at the magnetopause. Walker provides a theoretical discussion of how magnetosheath wave energy is transferred across the magnetopause into the magnetosphere. Once energy crosses the magnetopause, it is transferred to the ionosphere via field-aligned currents, a topic considered by Watanabe. Finally, André et al. consider the relationship of turbulence detected by ionospheric radars to processes occurring on the dayside magnetopause.