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Abstract Enhancement of currents in Earth's ionosphere adversely impacts systems and technologies, and one example of extreme enhancement is supersubstorms. Despite the name, whether a supersubstorm is a substorm remains an open question, because studies suggest that unlike substorms, supersubstorms sometimes affect all local times including the dayside. The spectacular May 2024 storm contains signatures of two supersubstorms that occurred successively in time with similar magnitude and duration, and we explore the nature of them by examining the morphology of the auroral electrojet, the corresponding disturbances in the magnetosphere, and the solar wind driving conditions. The results show that the two events exhibit distinctly different features. The first event was characterized by a locally intensified electrojet followed by a rapid expansion in latitude and local time. Auroral observations showed poleward expansion of auroras (or aurorae), and geosynchronous observations showed thickening of the plasma sheet, magnetic field dipolarization, and energetic particle injections. The second event was characterized by an instantaneous intensification of the electrojet over broad latitude and local time. Auroras did not expand but brightened simultaneously across the sky. Radar and LEO observations showed enhancement of the ionospheric electric field. Therefore, the first event is a substorm, whereas the second event is enhancement of general magnetospheric convection driven by a solar wind pressure increase. These results illustrate that the so‐called supersubstorms have more than one type of driver, and that internal instability in the magnetotail and external driving of the solar wind are equally important in driving extreme auroral electrojet activity. 

Abstract Abrupt variations of auroral electrojets can induce geomagnetically induced currents, and the ability to model and forecast them is a pressing goal of space weather research. We report an auroral electrojet spike event that is extreme in magnitude, explosive in nature, and global in spatial extent that occurred on 24 April 2023. The event serves as a fundamental test of our understanding of the response of the geospace system to solar wind dynamics. Our results illustrate new and important characteristics that are drastically different from existing knowledge. Most important findings include (a) the event was only of ∼5‐min duration and was limited to a narrow (2°–3°) band of diffuse aurora; (b) the longitudinal span covered the entire nightside sector, possibly extending to the dayside; (c) the trigger seems to be a transient solar wind dynamic pressure pulse. In comparison, substorms usually last 1–2 hr and span almost the entire latitudinal width of the auroral oval. Magnetic perturbation events (MPEs) span hundreds km in radius. Both substorms and MPEs are mainly driven by disturbances in the magnetotail. A possible explanation is that the pressure pulse compresses the magnetosphere and enhances diffuse precipitation of electrons and protons from the inner plasma sheet, which elevates the ionospheric conductivity and intensifies the auroral electrojet. Therefore, the event exhibits a potentially new type of geomagnetic disturbance and highlights a solar wind driver that is enormously influential in driving extreme space weather events. 

An important question that is being increasingly studied across subdisciplines of Heliophysics is “how do mesoscale phenomena contribute to the global response of the system?” This review paper focuses on this question within two specific but interlinked regions in Near-Earth space: the magnetotail’s transition region to the inner magnetosphere and the ionosphere. There is a concerted effort within the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) community to understand the degree to which mesoscale transport in the magnetotail contributes to the global dynamics of magnetic flux transport and dipolarization, particle transport and injections contributing to the storm-time ring current development, and the substorm current wedge. Because the magnetosphere-ionosphere is a tightly coupled system, it is also important to understand how mesoscale transport in the magnetotail impacts auroral precipitation and the global ionospheric system response. Groups within the Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions Program (CEDAR) community have also been studying how the ionosphere-thermosphere responds to these mesoscale drivers. These specific open questions are part of a larger need to better characterize and quantify mesoscale “messengers” or “conduits” of information—magnetic flux, particle flux, current, and energy—which are key to understanding the global system. After reviewing recent progress and open questions, we suggest datasets that, if developed in the future, will help answer these questions.