Space weather: the solar perspective -- an update to Schwenn (2006)

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in understanding solar phenomena like CMEs, flares, and SEPs, emphasizing new observational data from missions like STEREO, Parker Solar Probe, and Solar Orbiter, and their impact on space weather forecasting.

Contribution

It provides an updated overview of solar space weather phenomena, integrating new multi-viewpoint observations and insights from recent missions since Schwenn (2006).

Findings

Enhanced understanding of CME evolution and solar activity dynamics.

Integration of new imaging data from STEREO, Parker Solar Probe, and Solar Orbiter.

Improved models for space weather forecasting.

Abstract

The Sun, as an active star, is the driver of energetic phenomena that structure interplanetary space and affect planetary atmospheres. The effects of Space Weather on Earth and the solar system is of increasing importance as human spaceflight is preparing for lunar and Mars missions. This review is focusing on the solar perspective of the Space Weather relevant phenomena, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), flares, solar energetic particles (SEPs), and solar wind stream interaction regions (SIR). With the advent of the STEREO mission (launched in 2006), literally, new perspectives were provided that enabled for the first time to study coronal structures and the evolution of activity phenomena in three dimensions. New imaging capabilities, covering the entire Sun-Earth distance range, allowed to seamlessly connect CMEs and their interplanetary counterparts measured in-situ (so called ICMEs). This vastly increased our knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of interplanetary space due to solar activity and fostered the development of Space Weather forecasting models. Moreover, we are facing challenging times gathering new data from two extraordinary missions, NASA's Parker Solar Probe (launched in 2018) and ESA's Solar Orbiter (launched in 2020), that will in the near future provide more detailed insight into the solar wind evolution and image CMEs from view points never approached before. The current review builds upon the Living Reviews paper by Schwenn from 2006, updating on the Space Weather relevant CME-flare-SEP phenomena from the solar perspective, as observed from multiple viewpoints and their concomitant solar surface signatures.