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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Numerous studies have provided the detailed information necessary for a substantive synthesis of the empirical relation between the magnetic field of the sun and the structure of the interplanetary field. We will point out the latest techniques and studies of the global solar magnetic field and its relation to the interplanetary field. The potential to overcome most of the limitations of present methods of analysis exists in techniques of modelling the coronal magnetic field using observed solar data. Such empirical models are, in principle, capable of establishing the connection between a given heliospheric point and its magnetically-connected photospheric point, as well as the physical basis for the connection. We thus find ourselves at a plateau, looking back over a quarter century of empirical synthesis while anticipating a new era of detailed physical investigation on a global scale.