Description
Book SynopsisA NASA space scientist maps out the coming solar cycle-and its catastrophic potential to disrupt worldwide power and communications systems. He includes a history of the record of auroral sightings, accounts of communications blackouts from the 20th century, industries sensitive to solar storms, and radiation and health issues.
Trade ReviewOdenwald... gives us reason to worry about how ill-prepared we are for geomagnetic disturbances in the future. It's scary enough to warrant a Hollywood disaster movie. American Scientist Odenwald uses a breezy journalistic style as he explores solar eruptions and how these interfere with such vital elements as electrical power grids, long-distance piplines, and navigation. Sky & Telescope Odenwald (NASA) offers an outstanding nontechnical introduction to the solar-terrestrial environment with a focus on "space weather". He weaves a fascinating story using numerous examples of space weather impacts on human and technological systems. Scientific references are highly accessible and accurate throughout. -- T. Eastman Choice Odenwald offers a cogent warning, which deserves to have an impact beyond the book's own immediate readership of space science enthusiasts. Publishers Weekly With the Sun about halfway through its 23rd sunspot cycle since the 18th century, there is a chance that solar flares and coronal mass ejections... will affect the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field... This book presents an interesting explanation of this phenomenon. For astronomy, space science, and engineering collections. Library Journal A fine summary of space weather effects, and how they work to the detriment of many satellite-based communications systems and, even, technology at ground level. I recommend Odenwald's book as a guide to the subtler, but very important, processes which occur in tandem with spectacular auroral storms. -- Neil Bone Astronomy Now
