The word 'weather' usually refers to what earth's atmosphere is doing today, tomorrow, next week. Severe weather, such as hurricanes, can cause havoc, as we all know. What is less well known is that not only the atmosphere, but space conditions in our solar system can change today, tomorrow, next week. These rapid changes in the space environment are referred to as 'space weather'.

Space weather research is an active area of interdisciplinary research: it spans the range from the interior of the Sun to interplanetary space and includes our own atmosphere. This is an overview of space weather and space weather research, describe current and future space missions that help monitor the solar system space environment, and finish with the challenges to creating a true space weather warning system.

Brand Fortner is a research professor in physics at NCSU, and is considered an expert in accessible scientific visualization and in technical data formats. He previously was chief scientist of the intelligence exploitation group of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, and is the founder of two scientific software companies.

Dr. Fortner previously held positions at NASA and at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and has written two books on color vision and technical data. He holds a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Illinois and funded a chair in astrophysics at that university. He also cosponsors a film festival at that university.