Related papers: Geomagnetic Storms and Satellite Orbital Decay
Our current sampling of the near-Earth space environment is wholly insufficient to measure the highly variable processes therein and make predictions on par with lower atmospheric weather. We sketch out the scientific rationale for a…
Our environment includes many factors, and each person on the Earth is permanently influenced by two of them: weather and magnetic field. It was found in the works of many investigators that the weather changes correlate with human health…
The solar cycle and its associated magnetic activity are the main drivers behind changes in the interplanetary environment and Earth's upper atmosphere (commonly referred to as space weather and climate). In recent years there has been an…
Studying solar wind conditions is central to forecasting impact of space weather on Earth. Under the assumption that the structure of this wind is constant in time and corotates with the Sun, solar wind and thereby space weather forecasts…
Intense currents produced during geomagnetic storms dissipate energy in the ionosphere through Joule heating. This dissipation has significant space weather effects, and thus it is important to determine the ability of physics-based…
The most violent space weather events (eruptive solar flares and coronal mass ejections) are driven by the release of free magnetic energy stored in the solar corona. Energy can build up on timescales of hours to days, and then may be…
Plasma pressure distribution in the inner magnetosphere is one of the key parameters for understanding the main magnetospheric processes including geomagnetic storms and substorms. However, the pressure profiles obtained from in-situ…
After providing an overview of solar activity as measured by the sunspot number (SSN) and space weather events during solar cycles (SCs) 21-24, we focus on the weak solar activity in SC 24. The weak solar activity reduces the number of…
Many questions have to be answered before understanding the relationship between the emerging magnetic flux through the solar surface and the extreme geoeffective events. Which threshold determines the onset of the eruption? What is the…
Robust atmospheric and radiative transfer modeling will be required to properly interpret reflected light and thermal emission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets. This will help break observational degeneracies between the numerous…
Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are an important product of solar activity. They are connected to solar active regions and flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), EUV waves, shocks, Type II and III radio emissions, and X-ray bursts. These…
The Sun is forced into an orbit around the barycenter of the solar system because of the changing mass distribution of the planets. Solar-planetary-lunar dynamic relationships may form a new basis for understanding and predicting cyclic…
In our own solar system, the necessity of understanding space weather is readily evident. Fortunately for Earth, our nearest stellar neighbor is relatively quiet, exhibiting activity levels several orders of magnitude lower than young,…
We study the orbits, tidal heating and mass loss from satellites around close-in gas giant exoplanets. The focus is on large satellites which are potentially observable by their transit signature. We argue that even Earth-size satellites…
Space debris larger than 1 cm can damage space instruments and impact Earth. The low-Earth orbits (at heights smaller than 2000 km) and orbits near the geostationary- Earth orbit (at 35786 km height) are especially endangered, because most…
According to theory, high energy emission from the coronae of cool stars can severely erode the atmosphere of orbiting planets. To test the long term effects of the erosion we study a large sample of planet-hosting stars observed in X-rays.…
Exoplanetary science continues to excite and surprise with its rich diversity. We discuss here some key aspects potentially influencing the range of exoplanetary terrestrial-type atmospheres which could exist in nature. We are motivated by…
The solar cycle and its associated magnetic activity are the main drivers behind changes in the interplanetary environment and the Earth's upper atmosphere (commonly referred to as space weather). These changes have a direct impact on the…
During the solar journey through galactic space, variations in the physical properties of the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM) modify the heliosphere and modulate the flux of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) at the surface of the Earth, with…
During geomagnetic field reversals the radiation belt high-energy proton populations become depleted. Their energy spectra become softer, with the trapped particles of highest energies being lost first, and eventually recovering after a…