The International Magnetospheric Study (IMS) was proposed in 1970 as a concerted effort to acquire coordinated ground-based, balloon, rocket, and satellite data needed to improve our understanding of the behavior of earth's plasma environment. This report summarizes the progress of the IMS to date and presents some recommendations on information transfer and research operations for improving the IMS program. Milestones in the organization of the IMS are reviewed along with basic and applied research dealing with various cause-and-effect relationships among the dynamical processes that govern particle, momentum, and energy transfer between the solar wind, the magnetosphere, and the upper atmosphere. Coordination of the IMS on a worldwide basis is discussed, particularly with respect to the different national, bilateral, and multinational programs. The dedicated IMS satellite, ground-based, balloon, and rocket programs are briefly examined, and the functions of the IMS Steering Committee, Satellite Situation Center, Central Information Exchange Office, and World Data Centers are described. Attention is also given to real-time data acquisition and display systems, satellite-data availability, and Steering Committee recommendations regarding data analysis and interpretation. Summary provided by http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1977SSRv...21....3.
IMS
G - I