A ground-based neutron monitor has been installed at a Met Office site in Cornwall to help understand and mitigate the impacts of space weather.
The new NM-2023 monitor, the first to be built in the UK in more than four decades, will provide real-time data and new measurement capabilities to help better understand and mitigate the impacts of space weather.
Space weather is a consequence of the behaviour of the Sun, the nature of Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere, and our location in the Solar System. Space weather can drive changes in the electromagnetic and radiation environment in near-Earth space, in the atmosphere and at the surface.
As such, it can represent a real threat and can have an impact on human technology, including satellites, power grids, communications, navigation and transport infrastructure. The most severe solar radiation storms can travel from the Sun to Earth in as little as 10 minutes.
Michael Aspinall, principal investigator at the University of Lancaster...