SuperDARN: An example of a network approach to geospace science in the twenty-first century

The study of Earth's space environment, or geospace, has made considerable advances in the 50 years since the start of the Space Age, which was coincident with the 1957 International Geophysical Year. Space probes have visited most parts of that environment providing a wealth of in situ and remote-sensing measurements. Equally important in contributing to the advances made over the last 50 years have been the many instruments, which have been distributed on the surface of the Earth. In particular, the development of networks for the specific purpose of studying the dynamics of geospace, energy redistribution within geospace, and fundamental physical processes in plasmas has been hugely successful. Ground-based instruments remotely sense processes and phenomena in geospace and since this volume is large, networks of such instruments are the best way of measuring the global state of geospace and its dynamics. In this paper, I describe ways in which the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) has contributed to the success of ground-based networks, concentrating on science results, which have required the network approach so well demonstrated by SuperDARN. Such science includes the remote sensing of the reconnection electric field and its dynamics, the study of processes where asymmetries in the geospace system are induced by the external driving forces, and MHD waves, which play an important role in the transfer of energy and momentum within geospace. In addition, I discuss open science questions, which can be addressed by SuperDARN in the future, in particular in conjunction with current and future space missions as well as other ground-based networks.