Space weather – a short guide
I am a space weather research scientist at the Met Office*, the national meteorological service for the United Kingdom. My job is to transition basic research to operational forecasting- in other words, I try to improve space-weather forecasts with new-and-improved science!
What do I mean by space weather? It basically describes the changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. Magnetic fields, radiation, particles, and matter, which have been ejected from the Sun, can interact with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and surrounding magnetic field to produce a variety of effects.
There are streams of particles from the Sun constantly hitting the Earth via the solar wind, but the Earth experiences an increased impact during periods of high solar activity, when solar eruptions can occur in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Solar flares are sudden releases of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. They are hard to predict, and the energy can be detected in the Earth’s atmosphere as soon as 8.5 minutes after a solar flare (travelling at the speed of light). CMEs are often associated with flares, eruptions of large amounts of matter from the solar atmosphere. These can take days to reach Earth, carrying a local magnetic field from the Sun. Considering the short time frame for forecasting of flares compared to CMEs, it’s really important to have accurate alerts for big events. That’s where your help with Sunspotter comes in – by improving our understanding of the active regions that are the source of flares, we can hopefully improve our forecasts!
![A solar eruption on 2012 August 12 captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory in four different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths- clockwise from upper left 335, 171, 131 and 304 Angstrom wavelengths [Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/GSFC].](https://sunspotzoo.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/683967main_aug31-cme-4panel.jpg?w=479)
A solar eruption on 2012 August 12 captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory in four different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths- clockwise from upper left 335, 171, 131 and 304 Angstrom wavelengths [Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/GSFC].
![Space weather has several effects on near-Earth space; the most recognisable might be the aurorae at high latitudes. Large solar eruptions can cause aurorae to form in even lower latitudes, as far south as the equator in very strong events. This image shows the aurora australis captured by NASA's IMAGE satellite [Credit: NASA].](https://sunspotzoo.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/aurora_australis_20050911.jpg?w=432&h=432)
Space weather has several effects on near-Earth space; the most recognisable might be the aurorae at high latitudes. Large solar eruptions can cause aurorae to form in even lower latitudes, as far south as the equator in very strong events. This image shows the aurora australis captured by NASA’s IMAGE satellite [Credit: NASA].
In order to monitor and forecast space weather, we generally use ground-based and satellite instrumentation. The solar surface and atmosphere is observed in near-real time to detect any new active regions that may become the source of large events. These observations, such as the MDI images used in Sunspotter, can help determine whether an eruption may be a threat if it is Earth-directed. The Earth’s atmosphere is also monitored to detect changes related to solar wind variations, as well as short-term impacts of solar eruptions. Ongoing scientific research is crucial to determine the fundamental physical processes involved in driving space weather, such as solar magnetic fields. The more that is known about these processes, the more models can be improved to accurately predict when a flare or eruption will occur. So keep clicking those active regions and help improve our warning systems!
*Disclaimer: all statements in this post are my own, and not those of the Met Office.
3 responses to “Space weather – a short guide”
Trackbacks / Pingbacks
- March 27, 2014 -
- August 31, 2015 -
Reblogged this on Dr Sophie Murray and commented:
A post I wrote for the Sunpotter project.