A cross-discipline approach to examine the physical links between Weather in Space and the Lower Atmosphere

Earth’s atmosphere provides the background for the “sea of plasmas” surrounding Earth via its Ionosphere and the upper and middle Atmosphere, providing an interface layer through which a broad diversity of solar-terrestrial energy transfer processes takes place. Developing an integrative understanding of global geospace energy transfer processes affecting this layer is a major scientific challenge with important societal implications. The disciplines covering this interaction have a large, diverse and active international community, with significant expertise and heritage in the European Space Agency and Europe. Several ESA directorates have activities directly connected with this topic, and an ESA Heliophysics Working group has been appointed by several ESA Directors, under the direction of the ESA Director General, to work on optimizing synergies and to act as a focus for discussion, inside ESA, of the scientific interests of the Heliophysics community.

Very recently, a Forum at the International Space Science Institute was set up, involving some of the above WG, to look towards developing a deeper understanding of the solar-terrestrial interactions between the Ionosphere and the upper- and middle atmosphere, thus possibly enabling the detection of signatures by natural and anthropogenic hazards.

This presentation will provide a brief introduction to ongoing internal ESA cross discipline approaches, and then note some of the outcomes of this recent ISSI forum to set out a pathway to address this intriguing topic.