scholarly journals Solar Eruptions - the Effects on the Earth’s Environment

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 384-388
Author(s):  
P. Brekke

AbstractThe 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.

Author(s):  
Joanna D. Haigh ◽  
Peter Cargill

This chapter focuses on the link between Sun and Earth generically known as space weather. This link is referred to as the occurrence in the solar corona of energetic phenomenon such as flares and coronal mass ejections which can have a major impact on the Earth's space environment. There were other discoveries in subsequent years, but the 1950s and 1960s brought major advances in the understanding of the connection between the Sun and the Earth. Satellite observations confirmed the existence of the solar wind, so that the nature of the interplanetary medium was identified and measured. Such continuous monitoring of the Sun and solar wind has, in turn, led to methods for predicting deleterious space weather.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Luca Giovannelli ◽  
Francesco Berrilli ◽  
Daniele Calchetti ◽  
Dario Del Moro ◽  
Giorgio Viavattene ◽  
...  

By the continuous multi-line observation of the solar atmosphere, it is possible to infer the magnetic and dynamical status of the Sun. This activity is essential to identify the possible precursors of space weather events, such as flare or coronal mass ejections. We describe the design and assembly of TSST (Tor Vergata Synoptic Solar Telescope), a robotic synoptic telescope currently composed of two main full-disk instruments, a Hα telescope and a Potassium (KI D1) magneto-optical filter (MOF)-based telescope operating at 769.9 nm. TSST is designed to be later upgraded with a second MOF channel. This paper describes the TSST concepts and presents the first light observation carried out in February 2020. We show that TSST is a low-cost robotic facility able to achieve the necessary data for the study of precursors of space weather events (using the magnetic and velocity maps by the MOF telescope) and fast flare detection (by the Hα telescope) to support Space Weather investigation and services.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobo Varela Rodriguez ◽  
Sacha A. Brun ◽  
Antoine Strugarek ◽  
Victor Réville ◽  
Filippo Pantellini ◽  
...  

<p><span>The aim of the study is to analyze the response of the Earth magnetosphere for various space weather conditions and model the effect of interplanetary coronal mass ejections. The magnetopause stand off distance, open-closed field lines boundary and plasma flows towards the planet surface are investigated. We use the MHD code PLUTO in spherical coordinates to perform a parametric study regarding the dynamic pressure and temperature of the solar wind as well as the interplanetary magnetic field intensity and orientation. The range of the parameters analyzed extends from regular to extreme space weather conditions consistent with coronal mass ejections at the Earth orbit. The direct precipitation of the solar wind on the Earth day side at equatorial latitudes is extremely unlikely even during super coronal mass ejections. For example, the SW precipitation towards the Earth surface for a IMF purely oriented in the Southward direction requires a IMF intensity around 1000 nT and the SW dynamic pressure above 350 nPa, space weather conditions well above super-ICMEs. The analysis is extended to previous stages of the solar evolution considering the rotation tracks from Carolan (2019). The simulations performed indicate an efficient shielding of the Earth surface 1100 Myr after the Sun enters in the main sequence. On the other hand, for early evolution phases along the Sun main sequence once the Sun rotation rate was at least 5 times faster (< 440 Myr), the Earth surface was directly exposed to the solar wind during coronal mass ejections (assuming today´s Earth magnetic field). Regarding the satellites orbiting the Earth, Southward and Ecliptic IMF orientations are particularly adverse for Geosynchronous satellites, partially exposed to the SW if the SW dynamic pressure is 8-14 nPa and the IMF intensity 10 nT. On the other hand, Medium orbit satellites at 20000 km are directly exposed to the SW during Common ICME if the IMF orientation is Southward and during Strong ICME if the IMF orientation is Earth-Sun or Ecliptic. The same way, Medium orbit satellites at 10000 km are directly exposed to the SW if a Super ICME with Southward IMF orientation impacts the Earth.</span></p><p>This work was supported by the project 2019-T1/AMB-13648 founded by the Comunidad de Madrid, grants ERC WholeSun, Exoplanets A and PNP. We extend our thanks to CNES for Solar Orbiter, PLATO and Meteo Space science support and to INSU/PNST for their financial support.</p>


Author(s):  
A. Vourlidas ◽  
S. Patsourakos ◽  
N. P. Savani

Much progress has been made in the study of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the main drivers of terrestrial space weather thanks to the deployment of several missions in the last decade. The flow of energy required to power solar eruptions is beginning to be understood. The initiation of CMEs is routinely observed with cadences of tens of seconds with arc-second resolution. Their inner heliospheric evolution can now be imaged and followed routinely. Yet relatively little progress has been made in predicting the geoeffectiveness of a particular CME. Why is that? What are the issues holding back progress in medium-term forecasting of space weather? To answer these questions, we review, here, the measurements, status and open issues on the main CME geoeffective parameters; namely, their entrained magnetic field strength and configuration, their Earth arrival time and speed, and their mass (momentum). We offer strategies for improving the accuracy of the measurements and their forecasting in the near and mid-term future. To spark further discussion, we incorporate our suggestions into a top-level draft action plan that includes suggestions for sensor deployment, technology development and modelling/theory improvements. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Solar eruptions and their space weather impact’.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (S340) ◽  
pp. 83-84
Author(s):  
Kunjal Dave ◽  
Wageesh Mishra ◽  
Nandita Srivastava ◽  
R. M. Jadhav

AbstractIt has been established that Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) may have significant impact on terrestrial magnetic field and lead to space weather events. In the present study, we selected several CMEs which are associated with filament eruptions on the Sun. We attempt to identify the presence of filament material within ICME at 1AU. We discuss how different ICMEs associated with filaments lead to moderate or major geomagnetic activity on their arrival at the Earth. Our study also highlights the difficulties in identifying the filament material at 1AU within isolated and in interacting CMEs.


2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (29) ◽  
pp. 6650-6653
Author(s):  
A. GERANIOS ◽  
M. VANDAS ◽  
E. ANTONIADOU ◽  
O. ZACHAROPOULOU

Magnetic clouds are ideal objects for solar-terrestrial studies because of their simplicity and their extended time intervals of southward and northward magnetic fields. Magnetic clouds constitute a significant subset of coronal mass ejections with remarkable characteristics in the interplanetary medium and a strong influence on the Earth's magnetosphere, giving rise to geomagnetic storms. The evolution of such a cloud from the neighborhood of the Sun up to the Earth is numerically simulated for two cases, without and with a presence of a faster moving shock front. Its influence on the magnetosphere can be seen by the triggered geomagnetic storm. Therefore, magnetic clouds are an important subject for space weather predictions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Ashish Mishra ◽  
Mukul Kumar

The present article is the successor of Solar Dynamical Processes I. The previous article was focused on the Sun, its magnetic field with an emphasis on various dynamical processes occurring on the Sun, e.g. sunspots, prominence and bright points which in turn plays a fundamental role in regulating the space weather. This article is emphasized on the solar dynamical processes and develop an extensive understanding of the various phenomena involved in their origin. The article also covers various models and hypothesis put forward by pioneer scientists on the basis of their observation by space-borne and ground-based instruments. This article shade light over a wide range of dynamical processes e.g., solar flares, coronal mass ejections, solar jets and coronal holes. Solar jets, the small-scale transient activities are found to have association with the other transient activities (e.g., mini-flares and mini-filaments). Flares as well as the coronal mass ejections are responsible for releasing a large amount of high energy charged particles and magnetic flux into the interplanetary space, and are being considered as the main drivers of space weather.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet G Luhmann

<p>While the term ‘space weather’ remains to some synonymous with operational anomalies on spacecraft, communications interruptions, and other practical matters, its broader implications extend across the EGU and beyond. Much of the science underlying space weather has to do with how our star, the Sun, affects the space environment at Earth’s orbit. We are lucky to be living at a time where information from both remote sensing (especially imaging at visible, x-ray and EUV wavelengths) and in-situ measurements (of plasmas, magnetic fields, and energetic particles) have provided unprecedented pictures of the Sun and knowledge of its extended atmosphere, the solar wind. Building on early forays into interplanetary space and deployments of coronagraphs with the Helios and SMM missions in the 70s and 80s, the Ulysses mission reconnaissance far above the ecliptic and the launch of Yohkoh’s and SOHO’s imagers in the 90s, and the long-term ‘monitoring’ of both the Sun and the conditions upstream of the Earth on SOHO, WIND and ACE, the STEREO mission opened a floodgate to research focused on solar activity and its heliospheric and terrestrial consequences. Physics-based, often semi-empirical 3D models increasingly came into widespread use for reconstructing and interpreting the multiple imaging perspectives and multipoint in-situ measurements that the twin STEREO spacecraft, combined with Earth-viewpoint assets (including the GONG ground-based network, and as of 2010, SDO magnetographs), provided on a regular basis. These observations and models together transformed perceptions of phenomena ranging from coronal structure to solar wind sources to eruptive phenomena and consequences, and the tools used to study and forecast them. Now Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter are probing details of the still unexplored regions closer to the Sun than Mercury’s orbit, with the goal of completing that part of the solar/solar wind connection puzzle. And the overall science results from these observations and analysis efforts have not been confined to heliophysics, having especially influenced planetary science and astrophysics. They are seen in recreations of long-past scenarios when our Sun and solar system were evolving, in investigations of solar activity impacts including auroral emissions at the planets,  and in applications to distant planetary systems around other ‘Suns’. That these lofty implications are related to the bit flips and static ‘noise’ first identified with ‘space weather’, provides one of the interesting connections, and still ongoing journeys/stories, within EGU’s research universe.</p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S294) ◽  
pp. 519-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nindos

AbstractMagnetic helicity quantifies the degree of linkage and/or twistedness in the magnetic field. It is probably the only physical quantity which is approximately conserved even in resistive MHD. This makes it an ideal tool for the exploration of the physics of solar eruptions. In this article, I discuss the sources of magnetic helicity injected into active regions and I point out that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are probably necessary to remove at least part of the excess helicity produced in the Sun. I also discuss the importance of magnetic helicity in the overall coronal evolution that may lead to eruptions.


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