Large-scale dynamic processes in different magnetospheric regions, e.g., in the magnetosheath, at the magnetopause, in the outer and inner magnetosphere, magnetotail, ring current and plasmasphere are closely interconnected. The magnetosphere should therefore be considered as a global system. The state of the magnetosphere is controlled mainly by solar wind conditions. The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind velocity govern the energy input into the magnetosphere. However, solar wind properties change when plasma moves through the bow shock and magnetosheath. The magnetic reconnection rate at the dayside magnetopause depends on parameters in the surrounding magnetosheath and magnetosphere rather than directly on the solar wind conditions. Once dayside reconnection starts, magnetic flux accumulates in the magnetotail lobes, eventually resulting in substorms or steady magnetospheric convection. Magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail injects thermal and energetic particles into the inner magnetosphere and downward along magnetic field lines into the ionosphere. The Kelvin-Helmholz instability provides another important mechanism of energy and momentum transition from the solar wind into the magnetosphere.
Global magnetospheric dynamics can be studied by means of increasingly sophisticated numerical simulations (MHD, hybrid, or fully kinetic), with empirical and semi-empirical models, or using multipoint in situ spacecraft observations. A fleet of space missions can investigate magnetospheric phenomena in-situ, providing crucial information concerning the positions and dynamics of the magnetospheric plasma boundaries and the global distribution of the magnetospheric plasma and processes within it. Past and future global imaging missions (e.g., LEXI, SMILE, GEO-X, and others) can complete this picture providing large-scale snapshots of some geospace regions. Accurate modelling of global magnetospheric processes is an essential condition for successful space weather predictions, but sometimes model predictions are very different from each other even for typical solar wind conditions. We welcome any work presenting results on the global dynamics of the Earth’s magnetosphere as well as the magnetospheres of other planets.