Information in Radio Waves
Radio Observations of Space Weather: Background Our daily lives are affected drastically by the weather. From agriculture to transportation we are still at the mercy of the basic elements of wind, rain, and snow. Increasingly, as we conduct more of our technological operations in the near-­‐earth space environment, we are not only affected by the weather in the lower atmosphere. But, we are also affected by the dynamics of space weather. In the lower atmosphere, the troposphere and stratosphere, we can almost consider the solar input to the system to be relatively constant over time. But in the upper atmosphere, the Mesosphere and Ionosphere, variations in the Sun’s output can be very drastic and can cause geomagnetic storms. Geomagnetic storms are the source of the commonly known phenomenon aurora borealis, the northern lights. These storms can also pose a threat to the thousands of satellites that are operating in earth’s orbit. These satellites range in usage from telecommunications, scientific observations, military applications, and global positioning systems. Many of these systems we simply take for granted these days and we are growing increasingly dependent on them for our work and play. This increased usage of the near earth environment and its susceptibility to space weather has sparked a tremendous research effort to understand how outputs from the sun interact with the earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. In this unit you will explore the nature of the Sun’s variability, how both particles and radiations are emitted influence the entire solar system. You will see first-­‐hand the methods researchers are using to monitor and predict the behavior of that solar output as it interacts with the earth system. RET 2013 1