Space Weather Effects on Communications

An overview of historical and contemporary impacts of the solar and geospace environments on communications systems. Abstract In the last century and one-half, since the invention and deployment of the first electrical communication system – the electrical telegraph, the variety of communications technologies that can be affected by natural processes occurring on the Sun and in the space environment around Earth have vastly increased. This chapter presents some of the history of the subject o f " s p a c e we a t h e r " a s it affects communications systems, beginning wi t h t h e e a r l i e s t e l e c t r i c t e l e g r a p h s y s t e ms a n d c o n t i n u i n g t o t o d a y ' s wi r e l e s s communications using satellites and land links. An overview is presented of the present-day communications technologies that can be affected by solar-terrestrial phenomena such as solar and galactic charged particles, solar-produced plasmas, and geomagnetic disturbance s i n t h e E a r t h ' s ma g n e t o s p h e r e a n d i o n o s p h e r e .