Solar Environmental Disturbances

Abstract : Solar activity refers to a variety of non-thermal phenomena seated in the Sun's outer layers. Many aspects of solar activity exhibit pronounced, and sometimes explosive, temporal variability. The aim of this task has been to explore the basic physics of the sun that leads to the ultimate production of activity. We have investigated processes occurring below the visible surface of the sun, those seen at the visible surface (the photosphere) the variation of processes with height in the photosphere, processes seen in the middle atmosphere (chromosphere), the variation up to and into the upper atmosphere (the corona) and effects on the interplanetary medium that lead to terrestrial and near-terrestrial effects (space weather). We have sought explanations for how these physical processes affect the production of solar activity, both on short and long time scales.