Space Weather and Impacts on Human Civilisation

Murray will discuss the Bureau of Meteorology Space Weather Services, the phenomenology and prediction of space weather and the impacts of space weather on biology, society, and technology. He will also consider the occurrence of truly extreme solar super storms and their risk to the continuity of human civilisation. 

Dr Murray Parkinson

Murray Parkinson obtained his MSc in applied astrophysics and a PhD in radar oceanography at the University of Queensland. He worked as an ARC funded research associate in the Space Physics Group at La Trobe University. He also worked as a visiting scientist in the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, in the British Antarctic Survey, at the University of Leicester, and the University of Saskatchewan. Murray’s research interests included the use of digital ionosondes, SuperDARN radars, and spacecraft sensors to study magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling driven by complexity in the solar wind. He has published approximately 60 refereed papers in scientific journals and presented at numerous conferences. Murray worked as the Consultancy & Development Manager and National Manager Space Weather in the Bureau of Meteorology Space Weather Services for over 10 years. He is currently working hard on enjoying life.