Speaker
Description
Decadal-scale and longer-term variations in space environmental conditions forces planetary systems such as the Earth. These variations in radiation, particle and magnetic flux, and occasion extreme events, have a profound influence on planets, including but not limited to atmospheric evolution, climate dynamics, and technological impacts. Studies from the Sun-Earth system indicate that the typical space climate forcing parameters such as the solar radiation, heliospheric magnetic flux, solar wind, solar energetic events, and indeed the galactic cosmic ray flux are all modulated by the emergence and evolution of magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface. The latter in turn is governed by the output of the solar dynamo mechanism which has its origin in magnetohydrodynamic processes in the solar interior. Magnetic fields therefore act as a bridge, causally connecting the interior of a star to the space climate of planets that it hosts. In this talk, I shall highlight some of the important drivers of planetary space environments and trace their origin to decadal, centennial and longer scale fluctuations in the solar dynamo mechanism – emphasizing the rich physics at play that determines the ultimate origin of space climate.