UPCOMING BOOK TO TAKE SHELVES BY 'STORM

Science Writer Michael Carlowicz and Scientist Ramon Lopez Explain Marvels of Space Weather and Its Future Implications in New Book, Storms from the Sun

The Department of Defense tracking system that keeps tabs on 8,000 objects orbiting the Earth suddenly loses track of 1,300 of them. In New Jersey, a $10 million transformer is fried by a titanic surge of current in the power lines. Shocks to a power station in Quebec leave 6 million people without electricity. New England power stations struggle to keep their electricity grid up. Residents of Florida, Mexico, and the Grand Cayman Islands see glowing curtains of light in the sky.

It may sound the like opening sequence from a new disaster movie starring Bruce Willis, but these events are real. As explained by Michael J. Carlowicz and Ramon E. Lopez in their new book, STORMS FROM THE SUN: The Emerging Science of Space Weather, all of those bizarre, and seemingly unconnected, events were caused by a series of solar explosions that launched bolts of electrified gas at the Earth, creating the second largest magnetic storm in recent history. That March 13, 1989, storm-also called a solar maximum-is just one effect of the phenomena known collectively as space weather.

How does this happen? Why havent we heard more about space weather? And most important, what does all of this new information mean? Storms from the Sun explores the emerging physical science of space weather and traces its impact on a society that increasingly relies on space-based technologies. The worst, Carlowicz and Lopez warn, might lie ahead. We are now in the middle of another solar maximum, and many expect its effects to be felt through 2004. These storms may affect cell phones, 911 emergency services, and many other everyday technologies on which weve come to depend in managing our daily lives.

In Storms from the Sun, Carlowicz and Lopez explain what space weather really means to us down here-and what it may mean for future space explorations and the colonization of distant worlds. By translating the latest discoveries of NASA and top space scientists into fascinating and accessible prose, they reveal some of the most closely held secrets that the solar-terrestrial system has to offer.

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Michael J. Carlowicz is a science writer and education specialist. For five years he worked with space weather experts at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He also teaches non-fiction and science writing at the Johns Hopkins University. He received his B.A. from Georgetown University and an M.A. in science writing from Johns Hopkins University. Ramon E. Lopez is the C. Sharp Cook Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Texas at El Paso. He received his B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Illinois, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Space Physics from Rice University.

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Storms from the Sun:The Emerging Science of Space Weather
Joseph Henry Press/0-309-07642-0/hardcover/$27.95

Read the full text of Storms from the Sun, free of charge at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10249.html

Joseph Henry Press is an imprint of the National Academy Press, publisher for the National Academies-National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.