Overview - Electric fields

Abstract

The electric fields session is designed to review progress in observation, theory, and modeling of magnetospheric electric fields, and to expose important new results. The present report comments on the state and prospects of electric field research, with particular emphasis on relevance to quantitative modeling of the magnetospheric processes. Attention is given to underlying theories and models. Modeling philosophy is discussed relative to explanatory models and representative models. Modeling of magnetospheric electric fields, while in its infancy, is developing rapidly on many fronts employing a variety of approaches. The general topic of magnetospheric electric fields is becoming of prime importance in understanding space plasmas.