Abstract. To understand the magnetospheric substorm, it is necessary to determine whether its onset is externally triggered by the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We analyze the relationship between the IMF and the onset of classical substorms with well-defined onset times. A classical substorm is one that has auroral brightening and electrojet formation at onset, followed by poleward expansion of the region of bright aurora. Substorms meeting these criteria are identified using Canadian Auroral Network for the OPEN Program United Study ground photometer data. We find that a clear IMF trigger (a northward turning or a reduction in the magnitude of the y component) can be identified for 14 of the 20 substorms used in our study. All but one of the identified triggers are northward turnings. We develop a rigorous set of criteria that represents these triggers. By applying the criteria to a large set of IMF data, we find that it is essentially impossible for the observed association between triggers and substorms to happen by chance. Tl•is demonstrates that substorm triggering is a real phenomenon and not the result of the requirement that the IMF be southward before but not at•er a substorm. We also find that spatial structure in the plane perpendicular to the Earth-Sun line critically affects whether or not a trigger is observed from a particular IMF monitor; the probability of seeing a trigger for the substorms in our study is 89% for monitors that are < 30 R•: from the Earth-Sun line but only 50% for monitors 30 R•,: to 56.7 R•c from the Earth-Sun line. Thus a well-defined IMF trigger is associated with most of substorms considered here, and the probability of trigger identification is a strong function of IMF monitor distance from the Earth-Sun line. Given this limitation of trigger identification due to spatial structure, our observations imply that a large majority of classical substorms are triggered by the IMF. We also obtain estimates of-9 min for the mean time delay between magnetopause contact of an IMF trigger and substorm onset and -•64-72 min for the median growth-phase period of southward IMF that precedes triggered classical substorms.

We use a comprehensive set of data collected from space-borne instruments and from ground-based facilities to estimate the energy deposition associated with the three major magnetospheric sinks during the event. It is found that averaged over the 2-day period, the total magnetospheriC energy deposition rate is about 400 GW, with 190 GW going into Joule heating rate, 120 GW into ring current injection, and 90 GW into auroral precipitation. By comparison, the average solar wind electromagnetic energy transfer rate as represented by the e parameter is estimated to be 460 GW, and the average available solar wind kinetic power Usw is about 11,000 GW. A good linear correlation is found between the AE index and various ionospheric parameters such as the cross-polar-cap potential drop, hemisphere-integrated Joule heating rate, and hemisphere-integrated auroral precipitation. In the northern hemisphere where the data coverage is extensive, the proportionality factor is 0.06 kV/nT between the potential drop and AE, 0.25 GW/nT between Joule heating rate and AE, and 0.13 GW/nT between auroral precipitation and AE. However, different studies have resulted in different proportionality factors. One should therefore be cautious when using empirical formulas to estimate the ionospheric energy deposition. There is an evident saturation of the cross-polar-cap potential drop for large AE (•1000 nT), but further studies are needed to confirm this.•High Altitude Observatory, NCAR, Boulder, Colorado.

Abstract. The penetration of disturbance electric fields from the polar region to the magnetic equator on the dayside of the Earth is examined with geomagnetic data on May 27, 1993. First, we examine a dayside equatorial disturbance that followed the rapid recovery of magnetic activity from a storm and that has the characteristics of overshielding caused by persistent region-2 field-aligned currents.

A high‐density structure under northward interplanetary magnetic field BZ conditions is identified at the Wind and IMP 8 satellites, both in the solar wind on August 22, 1995. A compression of the magnetosphere is observed by the GOES 7 magnetometer within a few minutes of the pressure increase encountering the magnetopause. The response of the high‐latitude ionosphere is analyzed on the basis of ground‐based magnetometer data. A comprehensive description of this response in the Northern Hemisphere is provided by more than 70 ground magnetometers. This data set is interpreted in terms of high‐latitude ionospheric potential patterns by means of the assimilative mapping of ionospheric electrodynamics technique. Convection cells in the polar cap are formed and disappear on minute timescales in accordance with previous results. However, the high‐latitude ionospheric ground magnetic signature does not match the interpretation as events of traveling convection vortices, as has been suggested by past studies.

Presently, all empirical coupling functions quantifying the solar wind—magnetosphere energy—or magnetic flux conversion assume that the coupling is independent of the sign of the dawn‐dusk component (B y) of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). In this paper we present observations strongly suggesting an explicit IMF B y effect on the solar wind‐magnetosphere coupling. When the Earth's dipole is tilted in the direction corresponding to northern winter, positive IMF B y is found to on average lead to a larger polar cap than when IMF B y is negative during otherwise similar conditions. This explicit IMF B y effect is found to reverse when the Earth's dipole is inclined in the opposite direction (northern summer) and is consistently observed from both hemispheres. We interpret the different responses of the polar cap size due to the sign of IMF B y to likely be a result of differences in the dayside reconnection rate.