A book titled "Extreme Space Weather" has been published, reviewing current understandings and compiling the research results on space weather forecasting of Dr. Ryuho Kataoka, an Associate Professor at National Institute of Polar Research in Japan. He wrote this book as a textbook for graduate students and researchers in science and engineering. The topics include super solar flares, giant magnetic storms, and related influences on modern society and future explorations to the Moon and Mars.
Extreme Space Weather：
https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780128225370/extreme-space-weather
Our modern society is supported by advanced technologies, represented by satellite imaging, global positioning, and data communications via space. Such advanced technologies and even power grids are vulnerable to extreme activities of solar flares and magnetic storms. Space weather forecasting has been increasingly important worldwide to mitigate the significant impact on the essential social infrastructures.
“We are living with a star known as the Sun.” Dr. Kataoka makes a basic but essential point. The energy of solar activity is necessary for life on Earth, while solar activity can also be harmful to modern people. The geomagnetic field and the atmosphere shield against charged particles emitted and flowing from the Sun. The complex interactions among solar activity, geomagnetic fields, and atmosphere have made it difficult to understand space weather. For example, the interactions of these three elements appear as the northern lights or auroras. Dr. Kataoka assures, “Auroras help understand the complex chains hidden in the space weather.”
When giant magnetic storms occur, red auroras can be seen in middle latitude regions where auroras do not usually happen. “From the interdisciplinary collaboration with historians, it is possible to trace the historical records of rare extreme space weather, such as the red signs in heaven in old Japanese documents. Such attempts can also improve the accuracy of space climate forecasts about the occurrence rate of extreme space weather,” says Dr. Kataoka.
This book covers the following topics to address the essential aspects of space weather and space climate in one volume.
- The physics behind the space weather and space climate
- Actual data of complex space weather phenomena
- Examples and tables of extreme historical events
- The cutting-edge simulation results and modern challenge targets
- The negative impacts on future lunar and Mars explorations
Dr. Kataoka sincerely hopes that “this book will help everyone see the big picture of space weather forecasting."
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About National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR)
The NIPR engages in comprehensive research via observation stations in Arctic and Antarctica. As a member of the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), the NIPR provides researchers throughout Japan with infrastructure support for Arctic and Antarctic observations, plans and implements Japan's Antarctic observation projects, and conducts Arctic researches of various scientific fields such as the atmosphere, ice sheets, the ecosystem, the upper atmosphere, the aurora and the Earth's magnetic field. In addition to the research projects, the NIPR also organizes the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition and manages samples and data obtained during such expeditions and projects. As a core institution in researches of the polar regions, the NIPR also offers graduate students with a global perspective on originality through its doctoral program. For more information about the NIPR, please visit: https://www.nipr.ac.jp/english/
About the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS)
ROIS is a parent organization of four national institutes (National Institute of Polar Research, National Institute of Informatics, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and National Institute of Genetics) and the Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research. It is ROIS's mission to promote integrated, cutting-edge research that goes beyond the barriers of these institutions, in addition to facilitating their research activities, as members of inter-university research institutes.