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A Quarter Century of Wind Spacecraft Discoveries

Verscharen, Daniel; Hurley, Kevin; Wicks, Robert T. +11 more

The Wind spacecraft, launched on November 1, 1994, is a critical element in NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) - a fleet of spacecraft created to understand the dynamics of the Sun-Earth system. The combination of its longevity (>25 years in service), its diverse complement of instrumentation, and high resolution and accurate measurem…

Solar Influences on Climate

Beer, J.; Lockwood, M.; Gray, L. J. +12 more

Understanding the influence of solar variability on the Earth's climate requires knowledge of solar variability, solar-terrestrial interactions, and the mechanisms determining the response of the Earth's climate system. We provide a summary of our current understanding in each of these three areas. Observations and mechanisms for the Sun's variabi…

How unprecedented a solar minimum?

Luhmann, J. G.; Russell, C. T.; Jian, L. K.

The end of the current solar minimum is at least 2 years late, and indicators of solar and geomagnetic activity are approaching or are at their historical lows. We examine current indicators to determine how unprecedented this solar cycle might be, comment on possible earlier analogs to the current situation, and discuss attempts to predict future…

Understanding coronal heating and solar wind acceleration: Case for in situ near-Sun measurements

Sittler, E. C.; McComas, D. J.; Bothmer, V. +17 more

The solar wind has been measured directly from 0.3 AU outward, and the Sun's atmosphere has been imaged from the photosphere out through the corona. These observations have significantly advanced our understanding of the influence of the Sun's varying magnetic field on the structure and dynamics of the corona and the solar wind. However, how the c…