The Sun, the Earth, and Near-earth Space

The Sun, the Earth, and Near-earth Space PDF Author: John A. Eddy
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN: 9780160838088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Book Description
" ... Concise explanations and descriptions - easily read and readily understood - of what we know of the chain of events and processes that connect the Sun to the Earth, with special emphasis on space weather and Sun-Climate."--Dear Reader.

Earth's Climate Response to a Changing Sun

Earth's Climate Response to a Changing Sun PDF Author: Katja Matthes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9782759818495
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
For centuries, scientists have been fascinated by the role of the Sun in the Earth's climate system. Recent discoveries, outlined in this book, have gradually unveiled a complex picture, in which our variable Sun affects the climate variability via a number of subtle pathways, the implications of which are only now becoming clear. This handbook provides the scientifically curious, from undergraduate students to policy makers with a complete and accessible panorama of our present understanding of the Sun-climate connection. 61 experts from different communities have contributed to it, which reflects the highly multidisciplinary nature of this topic. The handbook is organised as a mosaic of short chapters, each of which addresses a specific aspect, and can be read independently. The reader will learn about the assumptions, the data, the models, and the unknowns behind each mechanism by which solar variability may impact climate variability. None of these mechanisms can adequately explain global warming observed since the 1950s. However, several of them do impact climate variability, in particular on a regional level. This handbook aims at addressing these issues in a factual way, and thereby challenge the reader to sharpen his/her critical thinking in a debate that is frequently distorted by unfounded claims.

The Sun's Influence on Climate

The Sun's Influence on Climate PDF Author: Joanna D. Haigh
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400866545
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
The Earth's climate system depends entirely on the Sun for its energy. Solar radiation warms the atmosphere and is fundamental to atmospheric composition, while the distribution of solar heating across the planet produces global wind patterns and contributes to the formation of clouds, storms, and rainfall. The Sun’s Influence on Climate provides an unparalleled introduction to this vitally important relationship. This accessible primer covers the basic properties of the Earth’s climate system, the structure and behavior of the Sun, and the absorption of solar radiation in the atmosphere. It explains how solar activity varies and how these variations affect the Earth’s environment, from long-term paleoclimate effects to century timescales in the context of human-induced climate change, and from signals of the 11-year sunspot cycle to the impacts of solar emissions on space weather in our planet’s upper atmosphere. Written by two of the leading authorities on the subject, The Sun’s Influence on Climate is an essential primer for students and nonspecialists alike.

The Sun-Earth Connection

The Sun-Earth Connection PDF Author: Sun-Earth Connection (Program : U.S.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Earth
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description


The Sun to the Earth â¬" and Beyond

The Sun to the Earth ⬠Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309089727
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
This volume, The Sun to the Earth-and Beyond: Panel Reports, is a compilation of the reports from five National Research Council (NRC) panels convened as part of a survey in solar and space physics for the period 2003-2013. The NRC's Space Studies Board and its Committee on Solar and Space Physics organized the study. Overall direction for the survey was provided by the Solar and Space Physics Survey Committee, whose report, The Sun to the Earth-and Beyond: A Decadal Research Strategy in Solar and Space Physics, was delivered to the study sponsors in prepublication format in August 2002. The final version of that report was published in June 2003. The panel reports provide both a detailed rationale for the survey committee's recommendations and an expansive view of the numerous opportunities that exist for a robust program of exploration in solar and space physics.

Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES)

Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES) PDF Author: Franz-Josef Lübken
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400743483
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 642

Book Description
CAWSES (Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System) is the most important scientific program of SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics). CAWSES has triggered a scientific priority program within the German Research Foundation for a period of 6 years. Approximately 30 scientific institutes and 120 scientists were involved in Germany with strong links to international partners. The priority program focuses on solar influence on climate, atmospheric coupling processes, and space climatology. This book summarizes the most important results from this program covering some important research topics from the Sun to climate. Solar related processes are studied including the evolution of solar radiation with relevance to climate. Results regarding the influence of the Sun on the terrestrial atmosphere from the troposphere to the thermosphere are presented including stratospheric ozone, mesospheric ice clouds, geomagnetic effects, and their relevance to climate. Several chapters highlight the importance of coupling mechanisms within the atmosphere, covering transport mechanisms of photochemically active species, dynamical processes such as gravity waves, tides, and planetary waves, and feedback mechanisms between the thermal and dynamical structure of the atmosphere. Special attention is paid to climate signals in the middle and upper atmosphere and their significance relative to natural variability.

Sun-Earth Plasma Connections

Sun-Earth Plasma Connections PDF Author: James L. Burch
Publisher: American Geophysical Union
ISBN: 0875900925
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 109. The Sun and the terrestrial magnetosphere have been the subjects of active research since the dawn of the space age. The capabilities of observing both systems with greater and greater detail evolved separately until the 1980s, when it was realized that definitive results on the connection between the Earth and the Sun would require a concerted and joint effort. It was also realized that sophisticated solar-terrestrial research communities existed within all the space-faring nations of the world and that no one of them could launch such an effort by itself. This realization led to the creation of the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program, which now comprises at least 12 spacecraft and includes extensive ground-based observations and theory and modeling efforts.

Solar and Space Physics

Solar and Space Physics PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309313953
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 37

Book Description
In 2010, NASA and the National Science Foundation asked the National Research Council to assemble a committee of experts to develop an integrated national strategy that would guide agency investments in solar and space physics for the years 2013-2022. That strategy, the result of nearly 2 years of effort by the survey committee, which worked with more than 100 scientists and engineers on eight supporting study panels, is presented in the 2013 publication, Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society. This booklet, designed to be accessible to a broader audience of policymakers and the interested public, summarizes the content of that report.

Climate Intervention

Climate Intervention PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309314852
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Book Description
The growing problem of changing environmental conditions caused by climate destabilization is well recognized as one of the defining issues of our time. The root problem is greenhouse gas emissions, and the fundamental solution is curbing those emissions. Climate geoengineering has often been considered to be a "last-ditch" response to climate change, to be used only if climate change damage should produce extreme hardship. Although the likelihood of eventually needing to resort to these efforts grows with every year of inaction on emissions control, there is a lack of information on these ways of potentially intervening in the climate system. As one of a two-book report, this volume of Climate Intervention discusses albedo modification - changing the fraction of incoming solar radiation that reaches the surface. This approach would deliberately modify the energy budget of Earth to produce a cooling designed to compensate for some of the effects of warming associated with greenhouse gas increases. The prospect of large-scale albedo modification raises political and governance issues at national and global levels, as well as ethical concerns. Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth discusses some of the social, political, and legal issues surrounding these proposed techniques. It is far easier to modify Earth's albedo than to determine whether it should be done or what the consequences might be of such an action. One serious concern is that such an action could be unilaterally undertaken by a small nation or smaller entity for its own benefit without international sanction and regardless of international consequences. Transparency in discussing this subject is critical. In the spirit of that transparency, Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth was based on peer-reviewed literature and the judgments of the authoring committee; no new research was done as part of this study and all data and information used are from entirely open sources. By helping to bring light to this topic area, this book will help leaders to be far more knowledgeable about the consequences of albedo modification approaches before they face a decision whether or not to use them.

Space Weather

Space Weather PDF Author: Volker Bothmer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540345787
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 517

Book Description
The editors present a state-of-the-art overview on the Physics of Space Weather and its effects on technological and biological systems on the ground and in space. It opens with a general introduction on the subject, followed by a historical review on the major developments in the field of solar terrestrial relationships leading to its development into the up-to-date field of space weather. Specific emphasis is placed on the technological effects that have impacted society in the past century at times of major solar activity. Chapter 2 summarizes key milestones, starting from the base of solar observations with classic telescopes up to recent space observations and new mission developments with EUV and X-ray telescopes (e.g., STEREO), yielding an unprecedented view of the sun-earth system. Chapter 3 provides a scientific summary of the present understanding of the physics of the sun-earth system based on the latest results from spacecraft designed to observe the Sun, the interplanetary medium and geospace. Chapter 4 describes how the plasma and magnetic field structure of the earth's magnetosphere is impacted by the variation of the solar and interplanetary conditions, providing the necessary science and technology background for missions in low and near earth's orbit. Chapter 5 elaborates the physics of the layer of the earth's upper atmosphere that is the cause of disruptions in radio-wave communications and GPS (Global Positioning System) errors, which is of crucial importance for projects like Galileo. In Chapters 6-10, the impacts of technology used up to now in space, on earth and on life are reviewed.