What is Space Weather?

The shorter-term variable impact of the Sun’s photons, solar wind particles, and interplanetary magnetic field upon the Earth’s environment that can adversely affect technological systems is colloquially known as space weather. It includes, for example, the effects of solar coronal mass ejections, solar flares and irradiances, solar and galactic energetic particles, as well as the solar wind, all of which affect Earth’s magnetospheric particles and fields, geomagnetic and electrodynamical conditions, radiation belts, aurorae, ionosphere, and the neutral thermosphere and mesosphere. These combined effects create risks to space and ground systems from electric field disturbances, irregularities, and scintillation, for example, where these ionospheric perturbations are a direct result of space weather.