Solar Activity

Solar activity describes dynamic behaviour at the Sun driven by the Sun's magnetic field. The most obvious manifestations of solar activity are sunspots, which represent locations at the photosphere where intense magnetic fields emerge into the Sun's outer atmosphere, the solar corona. Large scale solar activity (solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections) involve gigantic magnetic explosions in the corona. These events are of interest in themselves, but they also influence our local space environment, producing space weather storms with the potential to cause damage to communications infrastructure and power systems on Earth. This talk describes sunspots, solar activity, the current state of the solar cycle, and our understanding of flares, CMEs, and space weather.

Professor Michael Wheatland

Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, The University of Sydney

is a solar astrophysicist with more than 20 years' experience, and the author of more than 80 publications in the field. His research interests include solar activity, solar flare statistics, coronal magnetic fields, coronal heating, and solar-terrestrial relations. Mike is an Editor in Chief at the journal Solar Physics.