A search for the interplanetary quantity controlling the development of geomagnetic storms

An historical account is presented concerning the evolution of our present concept of geomagnetic storms. The present concept was formulated by Chapman (1927) in his magnetic data statistical studies of 'the initial rise' (now termed the initial phase) 'and subsequent larger decrease' (now termed the main phase) in H, followed by 'slow recovery'. The concept introduced by Alfven in 1940 of guiding center motions of a charged particle in a nonuniform magnetic field (ring currents) is also discussed. By 1963 it became quite certain that the ring current, namely a storm-time Van Allen belt, is formed in the magnetosphere during the storm's main phase. The search then began for the solar wind quantity controlling the development of the main phase. The author then gives a personal account of how our concept of geomagnetic storms has advanced and how new findings based on satellite and ground-based observations have made it possible to arrive at a first-approximation expression for the interplanetary quantity controlling the development of geomagnetic storms. Since a geomagnetic storm is a magnetic manifestation of a magnetospheric storm, which is a nonlinear superposition of intense magnetospheric substorms, the main emphasis is shifted toward the understanding of magnetospheric substorms in order to arrive at the parameters controlling the development of geomagnetic storms.