Abstract
This paper presents a brief review of recent work concerning the global Ionospheric wind dynamo, with a view toward helping to define some principal directions for future research. Remaining problem areas are identified as: more accurate determination of the distributions of ionospheric conductivities, especially in the highly variable F region; determination of the distributions of winds in the E region under all seasonal conditions, especially the tidal components; improved understanding of the mutual coupling effects among variations in conductivities, thermospheric winds, and electric fields and currents; and quantitative understanding of the mutual coupling processes acting between the magnetospheric and ionospheric dynamos and the changes in the ionospheric dynamo occurring during magnetic storms.
