Extreme Space Weather Events: From Cradle to Grave

Author(s)
Pete Riley, Dan Baker, Ying D. Liu, Pekka Verronen, Howard Singer, Manuel Güdel
Abstract

Extreme space weather events, while rare, can have a substantial impact on our technologically-dependent society. And, although such events have only occasionally been observed, through careful analysis of a wealth of space-based and ground-based observations, historical records, and extrapolations from more moderate events, we have developed a basic picture of the components required to produce them. Several key issues, however, remain unresolved. For example, what limits are imposed on the maximum size of such events? What are the likely societal consequences of a so-called "100-year" solar storm? In this review, we summarize our current scientific understanding about extreme space weather events as we follow several examples from the Sun, through the solar corona and inner heliosphere, across the magnetospheric boundary, into the ionosphere and atmosphere, into the Earth's lithosphere, and, finally, its impact on man-made structures and activities, such as spacecraft, GPS signals, radio communication, and the electric power grid. We describe preliminary attempts to provide probabilistic forecasts of extreme space weather phenomena, and we conclude by identifying several key areas that must be addressed if we are better able to understand, and, ultimately, predict extreme space weather events.

Organisation(s)
Department of Astrophysics
External organisation(s)
Predictive Science Inc., University of Colorado, Boulder, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Finnish Meteorological Institute, James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory
Journal
Space Science Reviews
Volume
214
No. of pages
24
ISSN
0038-6308
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-017-0456-3
Publication date
02-2018
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a63e82cf-3485-4a26-83fe-2d8dde7b03ec