A new book explores the fundamental role that helicities play in different astrophysical and geophysical phenomena and presents perspectives from various scientific disciplines that study them.
space weather (hazard)
Solar Storms May Scramble Signals for Migratory Birds
Birds use Earth’s magnetic field to migrate, but severe space weather may interfere with navigation and reduce the number of birds in the sky.
Magnetic Tangles Drive Solar Wind
Energetic collisions between magnetic fields produce gusty solar wind.
Rocky Exoplanet May Have Magnetic Field
Magnetic interactions between stellar wind and the planet likely caused extrasolar space weather.
Tides Ripple Across Earth’s Plasma “Donut”
Interactions between lunar gravity and the terrestrial magnetic field may cause a 90° offset from the Moon’s position in its orbit.
Machine Learning Helps to Solve Problems in Heliophysics
A new special collection invites papers pertaining to the use of machine learning techniques in all sub-fields of heliophysics.
Converging Toward Solutions to Grand Challenges
A hypothetical, space weather–induced power grid catastrophe served as a practice case for building unity and collaborative skills among disparate communities to address a major global hazard.
Space Raindrops Splashing on Earth’s Magnetic Umbrella
Though not as damaging as extreme space weather events, showers of plasma jets hit Earth’s magnetic shield every day—yet we’re only beginning to understand their effects.
Origin of Dawnside Subauroral Plasma Flows in Geomagnetic Storms
Geomagnetic storms induce fast plasma flows next to the aurora and affect space weather. Lin et al. explain the origin of a special “dawnside” plasma stream that occurs only during extreme storm events.
Shake, Rattle, and Probe
Helioseismology allows scientists to study the interior of the Sun, solve some basic physics mysteries, and forecast space weather.