Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T15:36:40.012Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Solar Eruptions - the Effects on the Earth’s Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

P. Brekke*
Affiliation:
ESA Space Science Department, Goddard Space Flight Center, Mailcode 682.3, G1, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The response of our space environment to the constantly changing Sun is known as ”Space Weather”. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has obtained significant new information about coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the source of the most severe disturbances in the Earth’s environment. Most of the time space weather is of little concern in our everyday lives. However, when the space environment is disturbed by the variable outputs of the Sun, technologies that we depend on both in orbit and on the ground can be affected. The increasing deployment of radiation-, current-, and field-sensitive technological systems over the last few decades and the increasing presence of complex systems in space combine to make society more vulnerable to solar-terrestrial disturbances. Thus, our society is much more sensitive to space weather activity today compared to the last solar maximum. By observing the Sun 24 hours per day, SOHO has proved to be an important “space weather watchdog”. The importance of real-time monitoring of the Sun will be pointed out and a number of enterprises affected by space weather will be discussed.

Type
II. Joint Discussions
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Pacific 2002