[en] A solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system model is proposed which is directly driven by the solar wind-magnetosphere dynamo. The dynamo feeds the Pedersen currents to the ionosphere by generating the field-aligned currents, yielding both Joule heat and ionospheric convective motion. The field-aligned currents associated with both the Pedersen and Hall currents introduce considerable complexity into this system by generating a potential drop along the geomagnetic field lines, and it is noted that the geometry of the open region at the polar cap changes drastically as the B(z) component of the IMF becomes positive