Solar-terrestrial DLR research for society and the economy

Space weather

Coronal mass ejection in June 2013 – a year of heightened solar activity
On 20 June 2013, the Sun erupted with a coronal mass ejection, hurling billions of tonnes of particles into space and towards Earth at a speed of some 2170 kilometres per second.
Image: 1/3, Credit:
NASA/Goddard/SDO

Comparison of solar minimum and maximum
Images in the visible light spectrum from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), showing the appearance of the Sun at solar minimum (left, December 2019) compared to the solar maximum (right, August 2024). Sunspots are associated with solar activity and are used to track the progress of the solar cycle. During the solar minimum, the Sun is often devoid of spots.
Image: 2/3, Credit:
NASA/SDO
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Space weather research
Future missions will study the impact of space weather on Earth’s ionosphere.
Image: 3/3, Credit:
ESA/A. Baker
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Most people check the weather forecast on a daily basis, perhaps through an app on their smartphones in the morning or watching the weather report on TV after the evening news. By contrast, space weather, solar winds and solar storms tend to be more the realm of sci-fi. Yet when solar activity peaks, space weather becomes a feature of people's everyday lives, as in autumn 2024, when the Northern Lights were visible over large parts of Germany and the world. Indeed, just like 'normal' weather – the weather conditions within Earth's atmosphere – space weather can have massive consequences.

Increased solar activity is also forecast for 2025. DLR conducts intensive research into interactions between the Sun and near-Earth space, analyses space weather phenomena and investigates its impact on people, technology and infrastructure, as well as how to mitigate its effect.

Close-up image of a solar mass ejection
This close-up of the Sun from 13 August 2018 shows a burst of charged particles rising and spinning before falling back into the Sun. Emitting light in the extreme ultraviolet range, such events are difficult to detect unless they occur at the edge of the Sun. At its peak, the plasma loop reaches a span several times the diameter of Earth.
Credit:
Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA

From the Sun to Earth

In his General Theory of Terrestrial Magnetism (1838), the famous German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss posited the idea that electrical currents in the atmosphere influence the orientation of a metal compass needle. This is perhaps the oldest known effect of space weather on human-made technology.

Today, space weather research focuses on electrical currents in near-Earth space and their influence on power grids. And even though we rarely navigate using old-fashioned compasses today, even the most modern satellite navigation system is vulnerable to the effects of space weather.

Space weather originates in the Sun, 150 million kilometres from Earth. Just as the seasons are interrupted by occasional storms, the Sun also experiences fluctuations in activity in the form of coronal mass ejections, where plasma is catapulted into space. When the solar plasma reaches Earth's magnetic field, it soon exerts a weather-like effect on the planet's protective electromagnetic shield.

From fundamental research to application – space weather research at DLR

The vast spectrum of processes involved in space weather is the subject of research at the DLR Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Neustrelitz. This covers everything from basic research into physical processes, through to application-oriented concepts for reducing the impact on vulnerable technologies. The goal is to protect national infrastructure and support affected industries through timely, accurate and reliable observations and forecasts.

The Institute's work is divided into three key areas: studying solar-terrestrial coupling processes, expanding space weather monitoring and investigating the impact of space weather. The long-term goal is to develop reliable space weather forecasting as a foundation for measures to prevent or limit damage to terrestrial infrastructure.

The DLR Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics also operates the Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center (IMPC), which helps assess space weather hazards. In the future, space weather reports will become a standard tool for ensuring the reliability of satellite navigation systems such as GPS and Galileo.

This topic in focus first explains the causes and effects of space weather – including both eye-catching effects like the Northern Lights and phenomena that can pose a threat to infrastructure, technology and people. It then presents DLR's space weather research, which plays an important role in protecting society and the economy from the effects of increased solar activity on Earth.

Weiterführende Links

Background articles

Impact of Space Weather on people, technology and infrastructure

Extreme space weather events can also damage space infrastructure, particularly satellite-based communication and navigation systems. Space weather can also negatively impact humans in space, for example during future crewed missions to the Moon or Mars.

Space weather reporting

Space weather follows similar principles to everyday meteorological weather and is also composed of numerous interconnected processes that form a complex system. This means that forecast models soon become inaccurate if the initial state is not precisely known. the IMPC provides space weather services with global forecasts and real-time space weather analysis.

Visualising space weather

Advances in space weather research present significant challenges for data visualisation and the interactive exploration of complex datasets. The SWEET project (Space Weather Exploration and Evaluation Technologies), for instance, addresses the critical need for sophisticated visualisation systems tailored to space weather modelling – particularly for ionospheric and plasmaspheric data.

DLR activities and participating institutes

Space weather is the core focus at DLR's Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Neustrelitz. The institute works closely with numerous other DLR institutes, the European Space Agency (ESA) and other national and international organisations from research and industry. Some of the resulting projects are described below.

What's happening on the Sun?

Fuelled by nuclear fusion at its core, the Sun's surface has a temperature of approximately 5500 degrees Celsius. Like all objects, it emits thermal radiation. The human body, for instance, radiates in the long-wave infrared range, which is invisible to the eye but can be detected with equipment such as infrared cameras. A metal wire, for example, starts to glow when heated. Sunlight is scattered by Earth's atmosphere, which is why the Sun appears yellowish from the surface of our planet.

The solar cycle

Sunspots are formed as loops of magnetic field penetrate the surface of the Sun. A greater number of sunspots increases the likelihood of a mass ejection from such a loop, potentially leading to the formation of a solar storm. Researchers are now investigating whether and how changes in radiation output during a solar cycle affect Earth's lower atmosphere – its weather and climate.

Earth and its magnetic field

Space weather refers to the effects of solar activity – particularly solar storms – throughout the heliosphere, the vast region of space influenced by the Sun, extending out far beyond Pluto. Within this region, charged particles and radiation from the Sun interact with planetary magnetospheres, ionospheres and atmospheres. At Earth, these 'solar-terrestrial coupling processes' are highly complex, making near-Earth space extremely chaotic – justifying the analogy to meteorological weather.

The aurora – a spectacular display in polar skies

The polar regions play a special role in the formation of the Northern Lights due to the shape of Earth's magnetic field. Solar wind particles are deflected between the poles along magnetic field lines, which run parallel to Earth's surface. The particles only hit Earth's atmosphere at high latitudes, where the magnetic field lines run almost perpendicular to the planet's surface.

News

Participating DLR institutes and facilities

Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics

German Remote Sensing Data Center DFD

Institute of Atmospheric Physics

Institute of Aerospace Medicine

Institute of Space Research

Institute of Data Science

Institute of Communications and Navigation

Galileo Competence Center

Article from Article from the DLRmagazine 177: DLR investigates space weather

Frolicking fire foxes light up the heavens!

Green, red and violet lights flicker across the sky – by turns fascinatingly beautiful, mysterious and even menacing. Throughout history, people have interpreted the Northern Lights in different ways: as heroic apparitions, the souls of the deceased or fire foxes racing through the sky, creating sparks as their tails brush over the mountaintops. Some even saw them as bad omens of events to come. Today, scientists understand the origins of the aurora – the visible effects on Earth of what we call space weather. And yet, there are still many open questions, which the DLR Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Neustrelitz is working to answer.

Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center

The Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center (IMPC), developed and operated by DLR, provides a near real-time information and data service on the current state of the ionosphere, along with corresponding forecasts and warnings. As the successor to the well-established Space Weather Application Center – Ionosphere (SWACI) – the IMPC now offers significantly improved weather information and forecasts for the ionosphere, while also making the SWACI long-term data archive available.

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Performance Monitoring

GNSS Performance Monitoring is a unique DLR tool developed by the Galileo Competence Center. It presents and analyses internationally available data from satellite navigation systems in a consistent manner. Both real-time data and long-term archived data are used to visualise and calculate performance parameters. In the context of space weather impacts on satellite navigation, for example, the website displays GNSS data signal delays on maps.

SpaceWeatherLive

This website provides up-to-date information on solar activity and space weather conditions. It displays real-time data on sunspots, geomagnetic storms and auroras, as well as forecasts and charts based on satellite measurements.

Space Weather Prediction Center

The NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center monitors space weather and forecasts solar activity, geomagnetic storms and their potential impact on technology and infrastructure.

ESA special page

Space weather − the Sun's destructive power

For our daily lives and routine economic activities on planet Earth, the conditions within the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere are particularly important, as dynamic changes in the environment caused by the Sun and the solar wind can influence the functioning and reliability of spaceborne and ground-based systems and services, thereby potentially endangering human health and wellbeing through impact on this infrastructure.

NASA-Webspecial

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

NASA's SDO mission investigates solar activity and its influence on space weather. By observing the Sun’s atmosphere at high temporal and spatial resolution, SDO contributes to a better understanding of the formation of phenomena such as solar winds, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. This knowledge is crucial for improving the accuracy of space weather impact forecasts and for mitigating their effects on Earth and technological systems.

Contact

Philipp Burtscheidt

Senior editor DLR media relations

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Corporate Communications

Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne

Tel: +49 2203 601-2323

Michael Müller

Editor