Cover title. Shipping list no.: 2010-0055-P. Includes index. "NP-2009-1-066-GSFC." This book was made possible by NASA Living With a Start grant number NNG06EC631 Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-293) and index.

Overview -- Stars around us -- Our dependence on the sun -- Sun's inconstancy -- Intruders from afar -- What gets by -- Voyages of discovery in an age of exploration -- New appreciation -- Consequences -- Interconnected system -- Sun -- Sun as a star -- Voyage to the sun -- Perpetual combustion -- Hidden source of solar energy -- Delayed delivery -- Radiant energy from the sun -- How constant is and was the sun? -- Metered sunshine -- First who saw the face of the sun -- Long watch -- Sun that we can see -- Photosphere -- Sunspots -- Bright faculae -- Beneath the shining surface: the bubble machine -- Lifting the veil: the unseen sun -- Sun's chromosphere's and corona -- How we see the corona and chromosphere -- Solar Wind & Solar Variability -- Solar wind -- Sources and characteristics of the solar wind -- Solar variability -- Why the sun varies -- Short- and long-term changes in solar activity -- Solar explosions and eruptions -- Explosive solar flares -- Solar prominences and filaments -- Coronal mass ejections -- Near-Earth Environment -- Protected planet -- Air above us -- Changes on the way to the top -- Troposphere -- Stratosphere -- Mesosphere and thermosphere -- Ionized upper atmosphere -- End of the atmosphere -- Into the magnetosphere -- Form and function of the magnetosphere -- Paths that particles follow -- Captive particles in the magnetosphere -- Earth's radiation belts -- Plasmasphere -- Heliosphere -- Cruising the heliosphere -- Fluctuations In Solar Radiation At The Earth -- Changes in total solar irradiance -- Variability in different parts of the spectrum -- Effects of the sun's rotation -- Effects of the Earth's orbit -- Lost in transit: the fate of solar radiation in the Earth's atmosphere. Variation In The Flow Of Particles At The Earth -- Nature of arriving particles -- Solar sources -- Particles borne outward in CMEs -- Particles from solar flare -- Solar wind plasma -- Characteristics of slow solar wind streams -- High-speed solar wind streams -- Sectors in the sun's extended magnetic field -- Pushing and shoving on the way to the Earth -- When solar particles strike the Earth -- Through the guarded gates -- Magnetic reconnection -- Effects of changes in the Earth's magnetic field -- Cosmic rays -- Fate of cosmic rays -- Impacts Of Solar Variability -- Solar causes, terrestrial impacts, and social effects -- Impacts on near-Earth space -- Magnetic storms -- Aurora -- Impacts on the upper atmosphere -- Perturbing the Earth's electric field -- Restructuring the ionosphere -- Disturbing the biosphere: the lower atmosphere, oceans, and land surface -- Effects On Human Life And Endeavor -- What is affected -- Some specific societal effects -- Exposure of aircraft passengers and crews -- Risks to manned space flight -- Ocean of air -- Enhanced ultraviolet and X-ray radiation -- Solar X-rays -- Sun intensely bright -- Solar energetic particles and cosmic rays -- Physiological effects of ionizing radiation -- Importance of dosage -- Disaster that almost happened -- Impacts on spacecraft, space equipment and on observations of the Earth from space -- Times of particular hazard -- Flight paths of greatest risk -- Spacecraft at the Lagrangian Points of the sun-earth system -- Polar orbits and the South Atlantic anomaly -- Geosynchronous and geostationary orbits -- Destructive particles from the sun and the Earth's radiation belts -- Cosmic rays -- Atmospheric drag -- Impacts on micro-circuits and computer systems -- Damage to other space equipment -- Protecting against damage from high-energy particles -- Impacts on telecommunications, GPS, and navigation -- Direct and indirect reception of radio waves -- Role of the sun and solar variations -- Impacts on GPS and other navigation systems -- Effects on electric power transmission -- Power blackout of 1989 -- How magnetic storms disrupt power systems -- Where solar-driven power outages most often occur -- Effects of geomagnetically-induced currents on the cost of electricity -- Early signs of solar interference in communications -- Effects of GICS on telecommunciations cables -- Damage to pipelines -- Impacts of geomagnetic storms on geological surveys and explorations -- Effects Of The Sun On Weather And Climate -- Brief history -- Missing pieces -- Metering the energy the Earth receives -- Recovering the past history of the Sun -- Effects of solar spectral radiation -- Sensitivity of climate to solar fluctuations -- 11-year solar forcing -- Solar forcing of the oceans -- Hidden diaries of the ancient sun -- Fate of carbon-14 -- Beryllium-10 in ice cores -- Marks of the sun on North Atlantic climate during the last 11,000 years -- Forecasting Space Weather At The Earth And Beyond -- Space weather -- Predictions -- Sources of needed data -- Available warning times -- Especial needs for manned space exploration -- Current capabilities -- Operational facilities -- Heliophysics System Observatory -- Reflections -- Solar misbehavior -- What has changed? -- Sun and global warming -- Acknowledgment -- Appendices -- Glossary of technical terms -- Sources for additional information -- Tables -- Images and Illustrations -- Index. " ... Concise explanations and descriptions - easily read and readily understood - of what we know of the chain of events and processes that connect the Sun to the Earth, with special emphasis on space weather and Sun-Climate."--Dear Reader.