Research Article

Solar activity and its evolution across the corona: recent advances

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Sez. Astrofisica, Università di Catania, Via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
² Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y el Espacio, ICATE-CONICET, Av. España Sur 1512, J5402DSP, San Juan, Argentina
³ Physical-Meteorological Observatory/World Radiation Center, Davos, Switzerland
⁴ Universidad Tecnológica Nacional – Facultad Regional Mendoza/CONICET, Rodríguez 273, M5502AJE, Mendoza, Argentina
⁵ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S. Sofia 78, 95123, Catania, Italy
⁶ UJF-Grenoble 1/CNRS-INSU, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) UMR 5274, 38041 Grenoble, France
⁷ LPC2E/CNRS (UMR 7328) and University of Orléans, 3A avenue de la Recherche Scientifique, 45071 Orléans Cedex 2, France
⁸ Solar – Terrestrial Center of Excellence – SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Av. Circulaire 3, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
⁹ Institute of Geodynamics of the Romanian Academy, Jean-Louis Calderon 19–21, Bucharest-37 020032, Romania
¹⁰ Research Center for Atomic Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, Str. Atomistilor 405, 077125 Magurele-Ilfov, Romania
¹¹ Department of Physics, POB 64, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
¹² Udaipur Solar Observatory, Physical Research laboratory, Udaipur 313001, India
¹³ Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

^* Corresponding author: francesca.zuccarello@oact.inaf.it

Received: 16 June 2012
Accepted: 22 March 2013

Abstract

Solar magnetism is responsible for the several active phenomena that occur in the solar atmosphere. The consequences of these phenomena on the solar-terrestrial environment and on Space Weather are nowadays clearly recognized, even if not yet fully understood. In order to shed light on the mechanisms that are at the basis of the Space Weather, it is necessary to investigate the sequence of phenomena starting in the solar atmosphere and developing across the outer layers of the Sun and along the path from the Sun to the Earth. This goal can be reached by a combined multi-disciplinary, multi-instrument, multi-wavelength study of these phenomena, starting with the very first manifestation of solar active region formation and evolution, followed by explosive phenomena (i.e., flares, erupting prominences, coronal mass ejections), and ending with the interaction of plasma magnetized clouds expelled from the Sun with the interplanetary magnetic field and medium. This wide field of research constitutes one of the main aims of COST Action ES0803: Developing Space Weather products and services in Europe. In particular, one of the tasks of this COST Action was to investigate the Progress in Scientific Understanding of Space Weather. In this paper we review the state of the art of our comprehension of some phenomena that, in the scenario outlined above, might have a role on Space Weather, focusing on the researches, thematic reviews, and main results obtained during the COST Action ES0803.