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Solar Activity, Events, and Galactic Cosmic Radiation: Effects on the Earth's Atmospheres give students and researchers in Atmospheric Science, Solar Physics and Climatology a more concise perspective on the Earth's atmospheres and how they are affected by solar emissions. It reviews a wide range of topics relating to the effects from solar activity on the Earth's climate including impacts on the energy budget, the effect of emission on tides and dynamics, how solar emissions change on different time scales and the ramifications on modelling paleoclimates. By providing greater insight on how solar emissions change as they travel through the atmosphere, Solar Activity, Events, and Galactic Cosmic Radiation: Effects on the Earth's Atmospheres guides the reader on how to present these emissions, along with observations and indices. Thoroughly reviews the impacts of solar activity and radiation on the Earth's Atmosphere and Climate, including effects on the energy budget, tides and dynamics and modelling paleoclimates The topic is broken down by atmospheric level for greater understanding Additionally covers of the Global Electric Circuit and the indirect impacted by solar emissions

Space missions subject human beings or any other target of a spacecraft to a radiation environment of an intensity and composition not available on earth. Whereas for missions in low earth orbit (LEO), such as those using the Space Shuttle or Space Station scenario, radiation exposure guidelines have been developed and have been adopted by spacefaring agencies, for exploratory class missions that will take the space travellers outside the protective confines of the geomagnetic field sufficient guidelines for radiation protection are still outstanding. For a piloted Mars mission, the whole concept of radiation protection needs to be reconsidered. Since there is an increasing interest of many nations and space agencies in establishing a lunar base and lor exploring Mars by manned missions, it is both, timely and important to develop appropriate risk estimates and radiation protection guidelines which will have an influence on the design and structure of space vehicles and habitation areas of the extraterrestrial settlements. This book is the result of a multidisciplinary effort to assess the state of art in our knowledge on the radiation situation during deep space missions and on the impact of this complex radiation environment on the space traveller. It comprises the lectures by the faculty members as well as short contributions by the students given at the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Biological Effects and Physics of Solar and Galactic Cosmic Radiation" held in Armacao de Pera, Portugal, 12-23 October, 1991.

The mono graph contains 8 chapters, and their contents cover all principal aspects of the problem: 1. Introduction and brief his tory ofthe radiation problem and background information ofradiation hazard in the near-Earth and interplanetary space. 2. General description of radiation conditions and main sources of charged partic1es in the Earth's environment and interplanetary space, effects of space environment on spacecraft. 3. Basic information about physical conditions in space and main sources of charged particles in the Earth's environment and interplanetary space, in the context of "Space W eather" monitoring and prediction. 4. Trapped radiation belts of the Earth (ERB): theory of their origin, spatial and temporal dynamics, and experimental and statistical models. 5. Galactic cosmic rays (GCR): variations of energetic, temporal and spatial characteristics, long-term modulation, and anomalous cosmic ray (ACR) component, modeling oftheir dynamics. 6. Production of energetic particles (SEPs) at/ne ar the Sun: available databases, acceleration, propagation, and prediction of individual SEP event, statistical models of solar cosmic rays (SCR). 7. Existing empirical techniques of estimating, prediction and modeling of radiation hazard, methodical approaches and constraints, some questions of changes in the Earth's radiation environment due to changes of the solar activity level. 8. Unresolved problems of radiation hazard prediction and spacecraft protection, radiation experiments on board the spacecraft, estimating of radiation conditions during interplanetary missions. Space does not allow us to explain every time the solar-terrestrial and radiation physics nomencIature used in current English-language literature.

Fulfilling the President’s Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) will require overcoming many challenges. Among these are the hazards of space radiation to crews traveling to the Moon and Mars. To explore these challenges in some depth and to examine ways to marshal research efforts to address them, NASA, NSF, and the NRC sponsored a workshop bringing together members of the space and planetary science, radiation physics, operations, and exploration engineering communities. The goals of the workshop were to increase understanding of the solar and space physics in the environment of Earth, the Moon, and Mars; to identify compelling relevant research goals; and discuss directions this research should take over the coming decade. This workshop report presents a discussion of radiation risks for the VSE, an assessment of specifying and predicting the space radiation environment, an analysis of operational strategies for space weather support, and a summary and conclusions of the workshop.

It turned out to be really a rare and happy occasion that we know exact1y when and how a new branch of space physics was born, namely, a physics of solar cosmic rays. It happened on February 28 and March 7, 1942 when the fIrst "cosmic ray bursts" were recorded on the Earth, and the Sun was unambiguously identifIed for the fIrst time as the source of high-velocity 10 particles with energies up to > 10 eV. Just due to such a high energy these relativistic particles have been called "solar cosmic rays" (SCR), in distinction from the "true" cosmic rays of galactic origin. Between 1942 and the beginning ofthe space era in 1957 only extremely high energy solar particle events could be occasionally recorded by cosmic ray ground-Ievel detectors and balloon borne sensors. Since then the detection techniques varied considerably and the study of SCR turned into essential part of solar and solar-terrestrial physics.

This project has examined one specific issue facing human explorers at Mars - radiation dose from solar particle events (SPEs). While the issue is specific, the work involved in carrying out this study has been truly multidisciplinary. From space physics to modeling the Martian atmosphere to assessing radiation risk to humans, a lot of ground is covered. At each point along the way, efforts were made to clarify the science and assumptions used to derive quantitative estimates and draw meaningful conclusions. The data and analyses provided in this project represent the most comprehensive study of SPE's at a planetary body other than Earth. The analysis includes dose estimates from galactic cosmic radiation. The specific aims of this project are to: 1. Establish a methodology for estimating the fluence of energetic particles at Mars from SPEs; 2. Establish a predictive model to estimate the frequency of SPE occurrence and cumulative SPE fluence received at Mars, as a function of the Solar Cycle; 3. Develop a model to estimate the fluence of energetic particles from SPEs on the Martian surface; 4. Estimate and assess the radiation dose on the Martian surface from SPEs, as compared to galactic cosmic radiation (GCR); and 5. Assess the viability of various types of shielding and mission profiles to mitigate the radiation risk to human explorers on the Martian surface. Some of the conclusions drawn from this study include: * The MCP detector onboard MGS ER (and presumably other spacecraft) can serve as an effective detector for high-energy ionizing radiation. * Though more work is necessary, it is possible to estimate future solar activity at Earth and Mars based on current solar observations. * Spectral information from SPE's at Mars is required to thoroughly assess the radiation environment on the Martian surface. * An unshielded astronaut on the Martian surface may face long-term and acute radiation risk from SPE's, depending on the likelihood of their occurrence. * Various mitigation strategies can be employed to minimize the radiation risk to human explorers on Mars, though shielding is limited for astronauts outside of a fixed habitat.

This open access book serves as a concise primer introducing the non-specialist reader to the physics of solar energetic particles (SEP). It systematically reviews the evidence for the two main mechanisms which lead to the so-called impulsive and gradual SEP events. This second edition contains two completely new chapters discussing element abundances and shock waves, reflecting new theoretical, modeling, and observational results. Existing chapters have been substantially expanded or updated with additions placed in a broader context. More specifically, the author discusses the timing of the onsets of SEPs, their longitude distributions, their high-energy spectral shapes, their correlations with other solar phenomena, as well as the all-important elemental and isotopic abundances. The book relates impulsive SEP events to magnetic reconnection in solar flares and jets. The concept of shock acceleration by scattering on self-amplified Alfvén waves is introduced, as is the evidence of reacceleration of impulsive-SEP material in the seed population accessed by the shocks in gradual events. The text then develops processes of transport of ions out to an observer. Finally, a technique to determine the source plasma temperature in both impulsive and gradual events is demonstrated.The author also mentions the role of SEP events as a radiation hazard in space and briefly discusses the nature of the main particle telescope designs that have contributed to most of the SEP measurements.

Satellite Monitoring of Inland and Coastal Water Quality: Retrospection, Introspection, Future Directions reviews how aquatic optics models can convert remote determinations of water color into accurate assessments of water quality. This book illustrates how this conversion can generate products of value for the environmental monitoring of opticall

The year 1998 marked the 50th anniversary of the invention of the neutron monitor, a key research tool in the field of space physics and solar-terrestrial relations. In honor of this occasion a workshop entitled 'Cosmic Rays and Earth' was organized to review the detection of cosmic rays at the surface and in the lower atmosphere of Earth, including the effect that this radiation has on the terrestrial environment. A special focus was the role of neutron monitors in the investigation of this radiation, on the science enabled by the unique dataset of the worldwide network of neutron monitors, and on continuing opportunities to use these data to solve outstanding problems. This book is the principal product of that workshop, integrating the contribu tions of all participants. Following a general summary of the workshop prepared by the editors, the volume leads off with a keynote article by Professor John Simpson describing his invention of the neutron monitor in 1948 and the early scientific discoveries made with this instrument.

Understanding how the Sun changes though its 11-year sunspot cycle and how these changes affect the vast space around the Sun – the heliosphere – has been one of the principal objectives of space research since the advent of the space age. This book presents the evolution of the heliosphere through an entire solar activity cycle. The last solar cycle (cycle 23) has been the best observed from both the Earth and from a fleet of spacecraft. Of these, the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses probe has provided continuous observations of the state of the heliosphere since 1990 from a unique vantage point, that of a nearly polar orbit around the Sun. Ulysses’ results affect our understanding of the heliosphere from the interior of the Sun to the interstellar medium - beyond the outer boundary of the heliosphere. Written by scientists closely associated with the Ulysses mission, the book describes and explains the many different aspects of changes in the heliosphere in response to solar activity. In particular, the authors describe the rise in solar activity from the last minimum in solar activity in 1996 to its maximum in 2000 and the subsequent decline in activity.

Since data-taking began in January 2004, the Pierre Auger Observatory has been recording the count rates of low energy secondary cosmic ray particles for the self-calibration of the ground detectors of its surface detector array. After correcting for atmospheric effects, modulations of galactic cosmic rays due to solar activity and transient events are observed. Temporal variations related with the activity of the heliosphere can be determined with high accuracy due to the high total count rates. In this study, the available data are presented together with an analysis focused on the observation of Forbush decreases, where a strong correlation with neutron monitor data is found.

NASA's long-range plans include possible human exploratory missions to the moon and Mars within the next quarter century. Such missions beyond low Earth orbit will expose crews to transient radiation from solar particle events as well as continuous high-energy galactic cosmic rays ranging from energetic protons with low mean linear energy transfer (LET) to nuclei with high atomic numbers, high energies, and high LET. Because the radiation levels in space are high and the missions long, adequate shielding is needed to minimize the deleterious health effects of exposure to radiation. The knowledge base needed to design shielding involves two sets of factors, each with quantitative uncertainty-the radiation spectra and doses present behind different types of shielding, and the effects of the doses on relevant biological systems. It is only prudent to design shielding that will protect the crew of spacecraft exposed to predicted high, but uncertain, levels of radiation and biological effects. Because of the uncertainties regarding the degree and type of radiation protection needed, a requirement for shielding to protect against large deleterious, but uncertain, biological effects may be imposed, which in turn could result in an unacceptable cost to a mission. It therefore is of interest to reduce these uncertainties in biological effects and shielding requirements for reasons of mission feasibility, safety, and cost.

As part of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), NASA is planning for humans to revisit the Moon and someday go to Mars. An important consideration in this effort is protection against the exposure to space radiation. That radiation might result in severe long-term health consequences for astronauts on such missions if they are not adequately shielded. To help with these concerns, NASA asked the NRC to further the understanding of the risks of space radiation, to evaluate radiation shielding requirements, and recommend a strategic plan for developing appropriate mitigation capabilities. This book presents an assessment of current knowledge of the radiation environment; an examination of the effects of radiation on biological systems and mission equipment; an analysis of current plans for radiation protection; and a strategy for mitigating the risks to VSE astronauts.