DIFFER Seminar: A very hot weather: space weather and how to forecast plasma behaviour

Abstract: In this seminar, the topic of space weather will be introduced. Space weather is a very interdisciplinary domain that covers a wide variety of plasmas: from the very hot and dense plasmas that we observe directly on the Sun to the colder, low-density plasmas present in the magnetosphere and ionosphere of the Earth. All these plasmas behave somewhat differently and require different methods of modelling. But all of these are very relevant to our everyday life - as they can cause power outages, radio disruptions, spacecraft and aircraft damage and many other very costly effects - and thus require modelling and forecasting. How do we do this currently and how can we make these models more accurate in the future? As we are now finding out, many of the mechanisms that have been studied in fusion plasmas may very well be relevant in space weather modelling and forecasting as well.