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Explore the world of space weather - all around us and increasingly important to today’s global society that relies on space-based technologies. Storms from the Sun: The Emerging Science of Space Weather aims to make cosmic meteorology accessible to the man on the street.

From the casual conversation starter to the 24-hour cable channels and web sites devoted exclusively to the subject, everyone talks about weather. There’s even weather in space—and it’s causing major upsets to our modern technological world. Space weather is all around us. There are no nightly news reports on space weather (yet), but we’re rapidly developing the tools necessary to measure and observe trends in cosmic meteorology.

Storms from the Sun explores the emerging physical science of space weather and traces its increasing impact on a society that relies on space-based technologies. Authors Carlowicz and Lopez explain what space weather really means to us down here - and what it may mean for future explorations and colonisation of distant worlds.

Does Space Weather Matter?

But why does space weather matter? Well for a start, it’s becoming increasingly accessible - new probes are going on-line that help us monitor the weather taking place increasing distances above the Earth.

And weather in space can have far reaching consequences to the Earth, as the authors explain. In fact, some of the space weather effects illustrated in the book read like events from television’s The X-Files!

For example, on March 13, 1989 the US Department of Defence tracking system - that keeps tabs on 8,000 objects orbiting the Earth - suddenly lost track of 1,300 of them. In New Jersey, a $10 million transformer is burned up by a surge of extra current in the power lines. Shocks to a power station in Quebec left 6 million people without electricity.

New England power stations struggled to keep their power grid up. Listeners tuning in to their local stations in Minnesota heard the broadcasts of the California Highway Patrol. At the same time residents of Florida, Mexico, and the Grand Cayman Islands witnessed glowing curtains of light in the sky.

Fire From The Sky

All of these bizarre, and seemingly unconnected, events were caused by a storm on the Sun and a fire in the sky. A series of solar flares and explosions had launched bolts of hot, electrified gas at the Earth and stirred up the second largest magnetic storm in recorded history.

Before rockets and radio and the advent of other modern devices, we probably would never have noticed the effects of this space storm. But in today’s electrically powered, space faring world, the greatest space storm of the twenty-second solar maximum rang like a wake-up call. According to this we are now in the midst of another solar maximum, the effects of which are expected to be felt all the way through to 2004.

Authors Carlowicz and Lopez explain what space weather really means to us down here - and what it may mean for future explorations and colonisation of distant worlds. By translating the findings of NASA and other top scientists into fascinating and accessible descriptions of the latest discoveries, we are privy to some of the most closely held secrets that the solar–terrestrial system has to offer.

"Storms from the Sun deserves a place on the bookshelves of all those interested in the practical applications of science to human civilization." - Eos, August 20, 2002

Michael J. Carlowicz is a science writer and education specialist. For five years, he worked with space weather experts at NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre. Ramon E. Lopez is the C. Sharp Cook Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Director of the Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native American Scientists.

Storms from the Sun: The Emerging Science of Space Weather by Michael J. Carlowicz and Ramon E. Lopez 256 pp, 2002, published by Joseph Henry Press and available in the UK from Plymbridge Distribution Ltd.

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