Space Weather

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 125.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of our current observational knowledge, theoretical understanding, and numerical capability with regard to the phenomena known as space weather. Space weather refers to conditions on the Sun and in the solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere that can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems, and can endanger human life or health. The rapid advance in these technologies has provided us with unprecedented capability and convenience, and we have come to rely on them more and more. Technology has reduced society's risk to many kinds of natural disasters, but through its own vulnerability, it has actually increased society's risk to space weather. Adverse conditions in the space environment can cause disruption of satellite operations, communications, navigation, and electric power distribution grids, leading to a variety of socioeconomic losses.