Quantitative Modeling of Magnetospheric Processes

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 21.There is some confusion concerning what is meant by quantitative modeling. This is caused primarily by the existence of a wide variety of model users. Quantitative models may be purely empirical, that is based on data sets, semi-empirical, that is relying on physics whenever appropriate and available, but the “holes” being filled in with data as necessary, and finally purely physical models. It was apparent at the meeting that most current quantitative modeling efforts at this point in time are semi-empirical. This is partly because the physics of the magnetosphere is not yet entirely understood. At the same time, however, there is a large user community that needs models that can accurately describe magnetospheric features. The preponderance of semi-empirical models results because current data sets describing various magnetospheric features and processes are limited. There is some additional discussion of this topic in the section summaries. In particular, Cauffman in his introduction to the electric field section makes the useful distinction between “explanatory” and “representative” models. It is believed that all kinds of modeling will continue because of the various needs of the model user community.