Space Weather: Why On Earth it Matters

SPEAKER | Ms Ellen Clarke, BGS Edinburgh
Ellen Clarke joined the geomagnetism team at the British Geological Survey in 1988. Learning the subject on the job and through remote studies, she obtained a degree from the Open University in 1998. She became leader of the BGS real-time geomagnetic services in 2003. Throughout her career, Ellen has had an interest in space weather and 'real world' applications of geomagnetic science. She also has a particular interest in recovering new data from old records such as the historic analogue magnetograms from Greenwich and Kew observatories, showing for example the Carrington Solar Flare of September 1859 and the extreme geomagnetic storms that followed.

ABSTRACT | 'Space Weather' is a term broadly used to describe the variability in conditions in the near-Earth space environment that are caused by magnetic activity in the Sun and in the solar wind. Geomagnetic storms, resulting from space weather, can influence the operation and reliability of both space-borne and ground-based technological systems and infra-structure. This talk aims to introduce the topic of space weather and includes examples of geomagnetic storm events of historical interest. Space weather impacts on various modern day technological systems will be described, with an emphasis on effects at ground level. The role that scientists at BGS have had in helping industry understand, monitor and predict space weather and its consequences, will also be discussed.

BIOGRAPHY | Ellen Clarke joined the British Geological Survey in 1988. She obtained an HND from Napier University in 1993 and followed this up with a degree from the Open University in 1998. She became leader of the BGS real-time geomagnetic services projects in 2003. Throughout her career, Ellen had had an interest in space weather and and applications of geomagnetic and space weather science. She has a particular interest in the Carrington Solar Flare of September 1859.