[P-EM11] Dynamics of the Inner Magnetospheric System

[PEM11-01] The COSPAR task group on establishing an International Geospace Systems Program (IGSP)

★Invited Papers

*Larry Kepko¹, Rumi Nakamura², Yoshifumi Saito³, Xhochitl Blanco Cano¹⁵, Dibyendu Chakrabarty⁴, Yannis Daglis⁹, Clezio De Nardin⁷, Eric Donovan⁶, Benoit Lavraud⁸, Jonathan Rae¹⁰, Geoff Reeves⁵, Minna Palmroth¹⁴, Anatoli Petrukovich¹¹, Matt Taylor¹², Chi Wang¹³ (1.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 2.Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria, 3.ISAS, Japan, 4.Physical Research Laboratory, India, 5.Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, 6.University of Calgary, Canada, 7.Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Brazil, 8.University of Bordeaux, France, 9.University of Athens, Greece, 10.University of Northumbria, UK, 11.Space Research Institute, Russia, 12.European Space Agency, 13.Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, 14.University of Helsinki, Finland, 15.Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico)

Keywords:Magnetosphere, Geospace

Earth’s magnetosphere is vast, and too large to be studied by any single space agency or mission in any comprehensive manner. ISTP, although revolutionary for its time, provided only a low-fidelity picture of how the magnetosphere as a whole responds to the unceasing solar wind that continuously buffets it. We have learned from ISTP and the missions that followed that the magnetosphere acts as a “System of Systems”. Each magnetospheric system – the magnetotail, inner magnetosphere (itself a system of systems with plasmasphere, ring current, and radiation belts), magnetopause, magnetosheath, and ionosphere-thermosphere-mesosphere (another system of systems) – has its own dynamics and characteristics that can be, and have been, studied separately. Yet, there is a clear need to study the way the systems within the larger geospace system interact with each other: for example, how magnetotail dynamics lead to ring current enhancements; how ionospheric outflow modifies magnetospheric response; how meso- and macro-scale reconnection and boundary waves regulates the transfer of energy from the solar wind and foreshock/bow shock into the magnetosphere. This cross-scale, system science currently relies on ad-hoc and chance alignments of largely uncoordinated missions. Therefore, while great progress has been made on targeted mission science objectives, a broader, cohesive, and intentional program to study the entire systems of systems has potential to revolutionize our understanding in ways not possible today. With the revelation that mesoscale dynamics (~1-3 RE in scale) are both ubiquitous and central to magnetospheric dynamics, the science questions are dictating that we need a large undertaking to answer these questions. Such an undertaking would involve multiple constellations of spacecraft in key regions to resolve the “missing middle” of the mesoscales, combined with remote imaging measurements, ground-based measurements, and advanced numerical modeling, all coordinated and working in concert to study Geospace holistically, as a system, at the scale sizes that we now know are driving the overall dynamics. It would move beyond the limited view afforded by ISTP and the current ad hoc heliophysics system observatory to provide critically needed understanding of our dynamic space environment. To enable this vision, we have established a new COSPAR Task Group on establishing an International Geospace Systems Program (IGSP), the output of which will be a COSPAR scientific roadmap. In this talk we will summarize the science questions that are motivating our desire to create such a program, and outline our approach towards building community support and stakeholder engagement.