Dr Craig Rodger
Physics
Staff
About 350 years ago, the whole world went strangely cold. During the same period, lasting some 75 years, the sun stopped hosting its usual wild storms and explosions, and was uncharacteristically inactive. Why? Was there a link?
Trying to understand how the sun's activity impacts upon our world here on Earth occupies the days and nights of Physics lecturer Craig Rodger. He explains that solar flares spray hot particles across the planet with enormous force, affecting winds, the chemical composition of the atmosphere “and frying any passing satellites”. The outcomes matter for issues from climate change to skin cancer.
To understand what's going on, Craig has established a research station in Antarctica, a location “where the geo-magnetic fields open up and we can study charged particles at high latitude”. There, a radio receiver monitors changes to the sun's influence on the atmosphere some 80 kilometres above ground.
It's part of an international network, which also measures lightning incidences across the globe.
It's fascinating work, with some results as baffling as the questions. “Recent studies suggest variations in the sun's activity only accounts for about 0.1 degree of temperature change. So why the big freeze in Isaac Newton's day?”
And while the sun normally goes through cycles, alternating periods of activity with relative calm around every 11 years, right now it seems we've been spending a few years too long in another inactive phase. For Craig's sake, we should hope it doesn't last as long as it did several centuries ago.
“What's exciting is we're due to enter a period with far more solar storms. It's great. All our equipment is ready and we have lots of study opportunities for postgraduate students. We're waiting for the sun to bring it on!”