Magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions: near earth manifestations of the plasma universe

Abstract

As our Universe consists almost entirely of plasma, virtually all astrophysical phenomena take place in a plasma environment. The significance of this has become increasingly apparent as a consequence of observations in space. In situ observations in the solar system have shown that space plasmas tend to form filamentary and cellular structures, which complicates their theoretical description by making homogeneous models inappropriate. Observations of the Earth's magnetosphere have revealed completely unexpected and not fully understood chemical separation processes that are likely to be important in astrophysical plasmas.