Short-term funding strategies present serious problems for programs like solar activity studies, where observations and analysis span decades or longer.
solar activity
Posted inResearch Spotlights
NASA Fleet Helps Predict Space Weather
Using 8 years of data collected via spacecraft, scientists produce hindcasts of plasma eruptions from the Sun. These will help improve forecasts.
Posted inNews
Largest Flare of Past 9 Years Erupts from Sun
A massive flare and blast of charged particles toward Earth may disrupt satellites and communications and push auroras toward lower latitudes through tomorrow, according to space weather experts.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
For Magnetic Reconnection Energy, O—not X—Might Mark the Spot
A new analysis of satellite data could upend conventional wisdom about how solar storms produce their dangerous radiation—not from X-shaped mergers of magnetic field lines but from swirling vortices.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Plasma Waves Pinpointed at the Site of Magnetic Reconnection
When the Earth's and the Sun's magnetic fields meet, they realign in explosive and mysterious reconnections. Data suggest that plasma waves called kinetic Alfvén waves play a key role.
Posted inAGU News
Yeo Receives 2016 Fred L. Scarf Award
Kok Leng Yeo will receive the Fred L. Scarf Award at the 2016 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, to be held 12–16 December in San Francisco, Calif. This award is given annually to one honoree in recognition of an outstanding dissertation that contributes directly to solar-planetary science.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lab Experiment Tests What Triggers Massive Solar Eruptions
In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, scientists provide experimental support for a possible mechanism behind the formation of coronal mass ejections.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Jupiter's Auroras Recharge Between Solar Storms
New research suggests that Jupiter's magnetic field replenishes its stock of plasma during lulls in solar activity, creating spectacular displays when a solar storm hits.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Tracking Ions at the Edge of the Atmosphere
The first results from a recently launched satellite hold promise for studying solar storms, the very top of Earth's ionosphere, and how the atmosphere is evolving.
Posted inNews
Did Solar Flares Cook Up Life on Earth?
Scientists have found that "super" solar flares could have warmed the ancient planet and jump-started life.