The terrestrial magnetosphere-ionosphere system is strongly coupled to the solar wind, which is highly variable on short timescales. Near-step changes in solar wind dynamic pressure, known as pressure pulses which when positive, can rapidly excite and restructure the electrodynamics within the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. When the effects of a rapid change in solar wind dynamic pressure are communicated into the magnetosphere, this is known as a geomagnetic sudden commencement (SC, Araki, 1994), indicated by a corresponding step change in the ring current index SYM-H (e.g., Hori et al., 2015;Takeuchi et al., 2002). SCs can be further subdivided into two categories: sudden impulses (SIs) and sudden storm commencements (SSCs). Although the definition of these three terms (SC, SI and SSC) is not always consistent in the literature, in this paper an SSC is defined as an SC which is rapidly (within 12 hr (Taylor et al., 1994)) followed by a geomagnetic storm, otherwise it is an SI.The majority of pressure pulses observed in the solar wind are caused by dramatic phenomena such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) or corotating interaction regions (CIRS, e.g., Zuo et al., 2015). CMEs are violent eruptions of plasma from the Sun, resulting from magnetic reconnection (e.g., Hundhausen, 1995) and can cause SSCs (Taylor et al., 1994). CIRs, also called fast-slow stream interaction regions, have steep pressure gradients resulting from fast flowing plasma catching up with more slowly rotating plasma on more tightly wound magnetic field lines (e.g., Hundhausen, 1995). CIRs can cause Storm Gradual Commencements (SGCs, Taylor et al., 1994), which are geomagnetic storms not related to an SC. If there is no subsequent storm, a positive SI (+SI) may result from an increase in pressure, and a negative SI (−SI) may result from a decrease in pressure. An SI is generally considered to be driven by a pressure change of at least 3 nPa in under 10 min (e.g., Coco et al., 2011), although it can also be identified with SYM-H (e.g., Hori et al., 2015). Hori et al. (2015) define the SC signature in SYM-H as an increase of more than 5 nT with a gradient greater than about 15 nT per 10 s. Given the magnitude of the pressure change, SIs can have a remarkably dramatic impact on the Earth's magnetosphere, and the electrodynamics within.