Space weather / Mike Hapgood.

"Version: 20170101"--Title page verso.

Introduction : what is space weather? -- The physics of space weather -- The role of research in mitigating space-weather risks -- Some critical issues in space weather research -- Looking to the future.

Space weather--changes in the Earth's environment that can often be traced to physical processes in the Sun--can have a profound impact on critical Earth-based infrastructures such as power grids and civil aviation. Violent eruptions on the solar surface can eject huge clouds of magnetized plasma and particle radiation, which then propagate across interplanetary space and envelop the Earth. These space weather events can drive major changes in a variety of terrestrial environments, which can disrupt, or even damage, many of the technological systems that underpin modern societies. The aim of this book is to offer an insight into our current scientific understanding of space weather, and how we can use that knowledge to mitigate the risks it poses for Earth-based technologies. It also identifies some key challenges for future space-weather research, and considers how emerging technological developments may introduce new risks that will drive continuing investigation.

Final-year undergraduates, new PhD students and early-career scientists.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader. or Kindle reader.

Professor Mike Hapgood is Head of the Space Weather at RAL Space, part of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. He is also a Visiting Professor in the physics department at Lancaster University, working with the Space and Planetary Physics group. Mike is an internationally recognized expert in space weather, with a deep interest in understanding how the science links to practical impacts. He has led a number of space-weather studies funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is a past chair of ESA's Space Weather Working Team. More recently he has acted as an advisor to the UK government on the risks posed by space weather, and he chairs the UK's Space Environment Impacts Expert Group. Mike is also an Editor for American Geophysical Union's Space Weather journal, a leading peer-reviewed journal for the subject with a world-wide audience. Mike has had a long involvement with the Royal Astronomical Society, with past positions including secretary (1998-2008) and vice-president (2008-2010).

Title from PDF title page (viewed on February 9, 2017).