SATELLITE EXPERIMENTS SIMULTANEOUS WITH ANTARCTIC MEASUREMENTS (SESAME)

Satellite Experiments Simultaneous with Antarctic Measurements (SESAME ) is one of the four ground-based programmes within the NASA/ISAS Glob al Geospace Science (GGS) mission, itself part of the International So lar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) programme. The scientific objectives of SESAME are carefully selected to make an invaluable contribution to t he GGS mission by capitalising on the unique geophysical advantages of Antarctica for geospace research. These arise mainly from the large d isplacement of the geographic and geomagnetic poles. Specifically, SES AME is designed to study the ionospheric effects of merging at the mag netopause, reconnection in the geomagnetic tail and its relationship t o substorms, mapping of significant geospace boundaries to ionospheric altitudes, plasma wave generation and propagation at high latitudes, and ionosphere-thermosphere interactions. The experimental programme i s centred at Halley (76 degrees S, 27 degrees W) but also utilises aut omatic geophysical observatories located poleward of Halley. The suite of instruments provides an excellent image of the inner boundary of g eospace and thus is complementary to the GGS spacecraft measurements. The data products that will be supplied as key parameters to the GGS e xperimenters on a routine basis are described. A brief review of previ ous results is presented, and some of the significant scientific quest ions to be addressed using the combination of ground-based and space-b ased observations are discussed.