[1] Solar X-ray and UV radiation (0.1-320 nm) received at Earth's surface is an important aspect of the circumstances under which life formed on Earth. The quantity that is received depends on two main variables: the emission of radiation by the young Sun and its extinction through absorption and scattering by the Earth's early atmosphere. The spectrum emitted by the Sun when life formed, between 4 and 3.5 Ga, was modeled here, including the effects of flares and activity cycles, using a solar-like star that has the same age now as the Sun had 4-3.5 Ga. Atmospheric extinction was calculated using the Beer-Lambert law, assuming several density profiles for the atmosphere of the Archean Earth. We found that almost all radiation with a wavelength shorter than 200 nm is attenuated effectively, even by very tenuous atmospheres. Longer-wavelength radiation is progressively less well attenuated, and its extinction is more sensitive to atmospheric composition. Minor atmospheric components, such as methane, ozone, water vapor, etc., have only negligible effects, but changes in CO 2 concentration can cause large differences in surface flux. Differences due to variability in solar emission are small compared to this. In all cases surface radiation levels on the Archean Earth were several orders of magnitude higher in the 200-300 nm wavelength range than current levels in this range. That means that any form of life that might have been present at Earth's surface 4-3.5 Ga must have been exposed to much higher quantities of damaging radiation than at present.

The solar-wind magnetosphere interaction primarily occurs at altitudes where the dipole component of Earth's magnetic field is dominating. The disturbances that are created in this interaction propagate along magnetic field lines and interact with the ionospherethermosphere system. At ionospheric altitudes, the Earth's field deviates significantly from a dipole. North-South asymmetries in the magnetic field imply that the magnetosphereionosphere-thermosphere (M-I-T) coupling is different in the two hemispheres. In this paper we review the primary differences in the magnetic field at polar latitudes, and the consequences that these have for the M-I-T coupling. We focus on two interhemispheric differences which are thought to have the strongest effects: 1) A difference in the offset between magnetic and geographic poles in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and 2) differences in the magnetic field strength at magnetically conjugate regions. These asym-KML, SEM, SH, and JPR were supported by the Research Council of Norway/CoE under contract 223252/F50. IC was supported by a fellowship of the Natural Environment Research Council, grant number NE/J018058/1. NP was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation AGS-1522830. JCC was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant NE/L007177/1. We acknowledge the International Space Science Institute for support for our international team on "Magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling: differences and similarities between the two hemispheres." metries lead to differences in plasma convection, neutral winds, total electron content, ion outflow, ionospheric currents and auroral precipitation.

The strength of the Earth's magnetic field changes over time. We use simulations with the Coupled Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere‐Thermosphere model to investigate how the magnetosphere, upper atmosphere, and solar quiet (Sq) geomagnetic variation respond as the geomagnetic dipole moment M varies between 2⋅1022 and 10⋅1022 Am2. We find that the magnetopause stand‐off distance and the cross‐polar cap potential increase, while the polar cap size decreases, with increasing M. Their dependence on M is stronger than predicted by previous studies. We also show for the first time that the shape of the magnetosphere starts to change for M ≤ 4⋅1022 Am2. This may be due to enhanced magnetopause erosion and/or to strong changes in the ionospheric conductance, which affect the field‐aligned currents and the magnetic fields they create in the magnetosphere, thus modifying the magnetic pressure inside the magnetosphere. E × B drift velocities, Joule heating power, the global mean thermospheric temperature and the global mean height of the peak of the ionospheric F2 layer, hmF2, all increase with increasing M for low dipole moments, but all decrease with increasing M for larger dipole moments. The peak electron density of the F2 layer, NmF2, shows the opposite behavior. The Sq amplitude decreases with increasing M and this dependence can be roughly described by a power law scaling. Most scaling relations show a weak dependence on the solar activity level, which is likely associated with a change in the relative contributions to the Pedersen conductance from the upper and lower ionosphere, which scale differently with M.