GOPH 375 Lecture : Chapter 16.1.docx
Document Summary
Space weather changing environmental conditions in space due to varying solar activity. Organizations like cswfc forecast geomagnetic activity in polar cap/auroral/sub-auroral zones. Solar wind: stream of subatomic particles from the sun. Hot fringes released can"t be restrained by gravity and are sent in all directions. Strong gusts caused by coronal holes (localized, fast plasma) and coronal mass ejections (star-scale, clouds of plasma released in sunspots) Figure 16. 3 sunspot cycle number of sunspots. telluric currents in surface of earth: telluric electrical current propagating in the earth or through the sea. Electromagnetic induction: magnetic field variations induce electrical currents in a medium, and induced currents generate their own magnetic field. Magnetic storms: electric currents are produced in the ionosphere in response to solar wind disturbances, causing geomagnetic variations. Lasts 24-48 hours, electric currents are called telluric currents are induced on earth"s surface and conducted/affect power, telephone and pipelines. Common near the peak and decline of the sunspot cycle.
