Barbara Ryan, Director of the WMO Space Programme, talks about Space Weather – which refers to the  disturbances in the elctric field around the earth, which impacts power lines and satellites.

Note from a solar physicist: Space Weather is not an important factor for climate change directly. It is important for many other things, and it certainly needs much mor e attention and public knowledge. Why? Space Weather impacts our digital communications, and we are ever more dependent on them. Through them, it has its relevance in climate change, but not by itself.The effects of Space Weather are going to increase (possibly dramatically). The natural risk is the same, the Sun is behaving roughly the same way with its cycles and so on. The problem is that we are increasingly vulnerable because we have increased our sensitivity to space weather events and we have less capacity to adapt.

Barbara Ryan goes on to talk about the operations and research partnerships they have, finishing on the importance of satellites in adaptation and mitigation to climate change.