Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, tel. U. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, tel. At one time auroral arcs were believed to map to the plasma sheet boundary layer, which implied that auroral arcs are a distant tail phenomenon. Recently a large body of evidence has accumulated that supports a mapping of auroral arcs to the plasma sheet, often to the near-earth plasma sheet. But this mapping is controversial because there is also evidence of mappings to other parts of the magnetosphere.
Controversy also exists regarding the source regions of dayside arcs and polar-cap arcs.
In this special session, the mapping of auroral arcs to the plasma sheet will be at issue. The evidence for and against the mapping to the plasma sheet will be given in a set of brief invited talks and the mapping of dayside and polar cap arcs will also be discussed. Contributed talks providing further information as to where auroral arcs map in the magnetosphere are encouraged. Energy Storage, Transport, and Dissipation in the Magnetosphere Magnetospheric dynamics, either directly or indirectly, is powered by the energy input from the solar wind. This energy is partially stored, or directly dissipated at various dissipation sites.