Anthropogenic Space Weather

Abstract

Anthropogenic effects on the space environment started in the late 19th century and reached their peak in the 1960s when high-altitude nuclear explosions were carried out by the USA and the Soviet Union. These explosions created artificial radiation belts near Earth that resulted in major damages to several satellites. Another, unexpected impact of the high-altitude nuclear tests was the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can have devastating effects over a large geographic area (as large as the continental United States). Other anthropogenic impacts on the space environment include chemical release ex- periments, high-frequency wave heating of the ionosphere and the interaction of VLF waves with the radiation belts. This paper reviews the fundamental physical process behind these phenomena and discusses the observations of their impacts.Comment: 71 pages, 35 figure

Space weather impact on radio device operation

“…На большую часть происхо-дящих на Земле крупномасштабных явлений опре-деляющее влияние оказывает ближайший к Земле источник излучения и частиц -Солнце. Хотя и существуют примеры обратного влияния человече-ской деятельности на крупномасштабные природ-ные процессы и искусственной генерации некото-рых природных феноменов [Baker et al, 2014;Gombosi et al, 2017], однако основным и постоян-ным источником формирования космической погоды является Солнце. Поток частиц и излучения от Солнца, высокодинамичный в пространстве и вре-мени, связан с внутренними солнечными процессами и, в связи с невозможностью проводить мониторинг глубинных процессов на Солнце в режиме реально-го времени, прогнозируем в основном в среднем.…”

Down to Earth With Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse: Realistic Surface Impedance Affects Mapping of the E3 Geoelectric Hazard

“…These impacts were the results of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) interacting with the atmosphere, the geomagnetic field, and the solid Earth. A nuclear explosion of several hundred kilotons set at altitudes of several hundred kilometers generates an EMP having three semi-distinct phases [Gombosi et al, 2017;Legro et al, 1985;Rivera et al, 2016].…”

Ionospheric Weather During Five Extreme Geomagnetic Superstorms Since IGY Deduced With the Instantaneous Global Maps GIM‐foF2

“…An extreme space weather event, or solar/geomagnetic/ionospheric superstorm, is one of a number of potentially high impact natural hazards on engineering infrastructure such as the electricity grid, satellite technology, and the air passenger safety (Cannon, 2009(Cannon, , 2013Koskinen et al, 2018;Lanzerotti, 2018;Riley et al, 2018). The strength and a substantial impact of the geomagnetic and ionospheric superstorms on geospace have been addressed by different authors with different criteria applied to various solar, interplanetary, geomagnetic, and ionospheric parameters (Balan et al, 2017;Bell et al, 1997;Fok et al, 2011;Gulyaeva & Stanislawska, 2010;Gulyaeva, 2017;Kane, 2005;Lakhina & Tsurutani, 2018;Loewe & Prölss, 1997;Liu et al, 2010;Riley et al, 2018;Shirochkov et al, 2015;Verkhoglyadova et al, 2017). These storms are significant not only because they are prolonged periods of extremely high magnetic activity but also because the data taken during superstorms in the space era show other anomalous features, such as extremely high energy input to the auroral regions from precipitating particles and/or the creation of additional, trapped radiation belts in the inner magnetosphere.…”