The response of our space environment to the constantly changing Sun is known as space weather. When the space environment is disturbed by the variable outputs of the Sun, technologies that we depend on, both in orbit and on the ground can be affected. Some of the most dramatic space weather effects occur in association with eruptions of material from the solar atmosphere into interplanetary space. The increasing deployment of radiation-, current-, and field-sensitive technological systems over the last few decades together with the increasing presence of complex systems in space make society more vulnerable to solar-terrestrial disturbances.
Space weather disturbances are generally caused by solar storms. There are two different types of events on the Sun that trigger disturbances in the Earth's environment. One type is called a solar flare because the brightening of a small area on the Sun heralds its occurrence. The other type of storm is called a coronal mass ejection (CME).
