Extreme solar eruptions and their impacts in geospace and on society
Abstract
The most extreme solar eruptive events drive major space weather in geospace which can couple into mankind's technological infrastructure. Observations of Sun-like stars show that explosions on such stars can be orders of magnitude more energetic than the solar flares observed in the modern instrumental era which spans only a few decades in time. Can the Sun surprise us with flares and coronal mass ejections that are significantly more powerful than those observed in recent decades? If so, how large can these be and how frequently can they happen? How could these impact mankind's technology in space and on Earth? Solar, stellar, lunar, and terrestrial records together can teach us about the extremes of space weather to be expected from the star we live with. In this talk, I summarize our current knowledge on the most extreme solar events, discuss how further information may be obtained, and explore gaps in our knowledge.
- Publication:
-
39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012cosp...39.1727S