Space weather research in India: An overview

Abstract

The regime of space weather includes the sun, solar wind. interplanetary space, magnetosphere, ionosphere and the thermosphere . The immediate manifestations of space weather events are the result of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) leading to the occurrence or geomagnetic storms and substorms, appearance of auroral forms, ionospheric disturbances, etc. The solar-terrestrial environment has a wide range of effects on many aspects of our everyday life. This paper discusses various aspects of space weather and presents an overview of the space weather research activities in India. There is a need for a comprehensive space weather prediction programme for India in view of the fact that the space-based systems are already being exploited for a variety of applications such as remote sensing and meteorology, radio communications, broadcasting, earth resources survey, etc.