Statistical studies of geomagnetic storm dependencies on solar and interplanetary events: a review

We present a brief review of published results on the geomagnetic storm effectiveness of CMEs and solar flares as well as of interplanetary events. Attention is drawn to the fact that the published values of storm effectiveness are in conflict with one another. Possible reasons of their differences are discussed. The presented comparison of methods and results of the analysis of the phenomena on the Sun, in the interplanetary space and in the Earth's magnetosphere shows that in addition to different methods used in each of areas, a way of comparison of the phenomena in various space areas or for different direction of data tracing is of great importance for research of the entire chain of solar-terrestrial physics. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.