Solar wind and magnetic fields - Origin and relationship to geomagnetic activity

The following report consists of two parts: The first part is a summary of in situ observations of the solar wind and of the interplanetary magnetic field on different characteristic time-scales and of the different structures in the interplanetary medium as observed on these time-scales, of their solar origin, and of their correlations to geomagnetic activity. In the second part the possibilities of the coupling of the interplanetary medium with the earth's magnetosphere and the possible mechanisms and dynamical processes in the magnetosphere and ionosphere of the earth that could explain the observed correlations are studied.