Space Weather

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to the Sun-Earth relationship and focused on understanding its societal and technological impacts. With the continued growth of the satellite communications industry and our growing dependence on wireless communication and instant access to global information, we are becoming more and more susceptible to problems caused by space weather. The course provides the students with understanding of the key concepts of radiation and convection, solar structure, the heliosphere: the corona and the solar wind, the interplanetary magnetic field, cosmic rays, Earth's space environment and upper atmosphere, the technological impacts of space storms, the perils of living in space, the impact of space weather on climate variability, and will discuss other space weather phenomena. The students will investigate several case studies of space weather storms and how they can damage or destroy orbiting satellites, injure or kill astronauts, degrade or blackout certain radio and navigation communications, and cause regional power failures by destroying critical components of electrical power grids.