The Goal:

To take solar wind input and energetic particle flux and couple the magnetospheric response with the ionosphere.

The Issues:

The magnetosphere provides a shield to solar wind and energetic particles on the Earth; it couples the current flow at the solar wind boundary to the ionosphere.

Macroscale:

• What is the flow of energy and momentum within the system?
• What are the radiation belt dynamics?

Mesoscale:

• What is the structure of boundary layers?
• The magnetopause; auroral current systems.