About the talk

The Sun, our nearest star, is not just a source of light and warmth but also a dynamic powerhouse that profoundly influences our planet. This lecture will explore the captivating Sun-Earth connection, a relationship that extends far beyond the visible spectrum and impacts our technological world. Solar phenomena such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) release vast amounts of energy and charged particles into space, sometimes directed towards Earth. These events can disturb the Earth’s magnetised upper atmosphere called the magnetosphere, leading to beautiful auroras and, occasionally, disruptions in communication and navigation systems that we rely on daily.

Historical geomagnetic observations, like those from the Colaba-Alibag observatory in India, have been instrumental in helping scientists piece together the influence of Sun on Earth over time. Despite our progress, questions remain about the precise mechanisms of solar wind interactions with Earth’s magnetic field. Recent advancements in space exploration, including missions like India’s Aditya-L1 and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, are shedding new light on these interactions. These missions aim to deepen our understanding of the behavior of Sun and its effects on space weather, which is crucial for predicting and mitigating potential impacts on our technology-driven society.

In this lecture, Dr Gurubaran will take you to this fascinating field, uncovering the dynamic interplay between the Sun and Earth and its significance for our future.

About the speaker

Dr Subramanian Gurubaran is currently holding the post of Professor ‘G’ at Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), an autonomous research organization under Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. With a Ph.D. from the discipline of Space and Atmospheric Sciences from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and with over more than 35 years of research experience, his current research interests are in the areas of atmospheric dynamics, electrodynamics of equatorial ionosphere, lateral/vertical coupling of atmospheric and ionospheric regions and Sun-Earth connection.
Dr Gurubaran won the PRL Award in the area of Earth and Planetary Sciences for the year 2005. He served as a member of scientific organizing committees on several national/international conferences/symposia, served as Guest Editor for special issues of scientific journals of international repute and has been associated with national/international scientific bodies in various capacities in the past. He was a Member of the Expert Committee on Earth & Atmospheric Sciences of DST-SERB during 2021-2023 and is currently a Member of the National Committee for International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and International Geographical Union (IGU).
Dr Gurubaran visited High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA, during 2002-2003 and Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Japan, during 2004-2005 and pursued collaborative research. Among his research contributions, the teleconnection between the dominant upper atmospheric motion systems and the deep tropical convection in the lower atmosphere manifesting as El Niño Southern Oscillation was an important finding that had a bearing on later studies seeking such connections between distant regions of the atmosphere. Dr Gurubaran has authored/coauthored more than 130 research publications and has supervised 11 PhD students.

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