Space weather science rues cuts

From BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition:

The field of science dedicated to understanding "space weather" - which can pose hazards to satellites and aircraft - may be wiped out in the UK. That is the verdict of experts responding to UK physics and astronomy cuts made as administrators seek to plug an £80m hole in their finances. The UK is recognised as a world leader in solar-terrestrial physics (STP). The science is crucial for protecting our communications networks against powerful outbursts from the Sun. The organisation MIST (Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial) which represents the STP community in the UK, has issued a damning statement in which it says the cuts will prove catastrophic to this area of research. Andrew Kavanagh, a space scientist at Lancaster University and member of the MIST council, said the STFC was "essentially scrapping an entire field of research in the UK". Flares and coronal mass ejections - large clouds of ionised gas thrown off the Sun - along with their associated shock waves are among the solar phenomena which exert an important influence on the space environment.

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