New project for more accurate space weather predictions

New project for more accurate space weather predictions

Professor Clare Watt, a space plasma physicist from Northumbria's Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, is leading a new project that aims to forecast space weather more accurately. Funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council…

Great auroral storms occur every 40 to 60 years, new historical study shows

Great auroral storms occur every 40 to 60 years, new historical study shows

A new study published in the Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate suggests that great auroral storms occur about every 40 – 60 years, although the distribution of such events is far from even. Space weather storms typically have solar, interplanetary,…

Using artificial intelligence to provide space weather alerts in real-time

Using artificial intelligence to provide space weather alerts in real-time

A new study suggests that computers can learn to detect solar flares and other occurrences in vast streams of solar images, helping NOAA forecasters issue space weather alerts more in real-time. The machine-learning technique was improved by scientists at CIRES and…

Plasma space tornadoes let high-energy particles into near-Earth space

Plasma space tornadoes let high-energy particles into near-Earth space

Researchers using NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS) discovered tornado-like swirls of plasma create a magnetosphere tumultuous enough to let harmful high-energy particles from the Sun slip into near-Earth space. The discovery is important for…

NASA detects solar flare pulses at Sun and Earth

NASA detects solar flare pulses at Sun and Earth

When our Sun erupts with giant explosions—such as bursts of radiation called solar flares—we know they can affect space throughout the solar system as well as near Earth. But monitoring their effects requires having observatories in many places with many…

A new approach to forecasting solar flares

A new approach to forecasting solar flares

The emerging discipline of space meteorology aims to reliably predict solar flares so that we may better guard against their effects. Using 3D numerical models1, an international team headed by Etienne Pariat, a researcher at LESIA (Observatoire de Paris / CNRS /…

Model explains the formation of Stealth CMEs

Model explains the formation of Stealth CMEs

An international team of scientists has developed a model that simulates the evolution of Stealth CMEs, solar storms that puzzled scientists for their lack of typical warning signs as they seem to come from nowhere. Such computer models can help researchers better…

New insights into how eruptions occur on the Sun

New insights into how eruptions occur on the Sun

Scientists have gained new insights into how eruptions occur on the Sun and, through 3-D computer simulation, identified a universal process that explains eruptions of every size, from tapered jets to massive explosions of solar material and energy. In a new study…