An anomalous geomagnetic sudden commencement (SC) occurred on March 24, 1991. It is characterized by an exceptionally large and sharp impulse observed in its initial part along the noon meridian in middle and low latitudes. The analysis of the SC was made by using high time resolution digital data from the 210¿ Meridian Magnetometer Chain in the west Pacific, Sub-Auroral Magnetometer Network (SAMNET) in the United Kingdom and southern Scandinavia, the EISCAT Magnetometer Cross in northern Scandinavia and Svalbard, and Canopus in Canada together with other ground and satellite (GOES 6, GOES 7, CRRES, and GMS) data. The results of the analysis suggest that the pulse observed at lower-latitude ground stations was caused by the propagation of a strong magnetospheric compression of short duration (less than 1 min) which has never been observed before this event. The HF Doppler observation in Kyoto near local noon seems to be consistent with existence of the bipolar electric field associated with the propagating compressional magnetic pulse. The SAMNET stations and CRRES in the early morning also detected positive pulses which delays 30--50 s from the pulses in noon sector. Although the delay in the peak time of the pulse observed on the ground is consistent with ionospheric hydromagnetic wave propagation from the dayside to the nightside with finite speed, the initial onset time of the pulse on the ground was almost simultaneous everywhere suggesting the existence of an almost instantaneous propagation mode below the ionosphere.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union