Space climate is the long-term variation insolar activity within theheliosphere, including thesolar wind, theInterplanetary magnetic field (IMF), and their effects in the near-Earth environment, including themagnetosphere of Earth and theionosphere, the upper and lower atmosphere,climate, and other related systems. The scientific study of space climate is an interdisciplinary field ofspace physics,solar physics,heliophysics, andgeophysics. It is thus conceptually related to terrestrialclimatology, and its effects on theatmosphere of Earth are considered in climate science.^[1][2][3]

Space climatology considers long-term (longer than the latitudinally variable 27-daysolar rotation period, through the 11-yearsolar cycle and beyond, up to and exceeding millennia) variability of solar indices,cosmic ray, heliospheric parameters, and the induced geomagnetic, ionospheric, atmospheric, and climate effects.^[1] It studies mechanisms and physical processes responsible for their variability in the past with projections onto future.^[2] It is a broader and more general concept thanspace weather, to which it is related like the conventional climate andweather.^[1]

In addition to real-timesolar observations, the field of research also covers analysis of historical space climate data. This has included analysis and reconstruction that has allowed solar wind and heliosphericmagnetic field strengths to be determined from back to 1611.^[3]

The importance of space climate research has been recognized, in particular, by NASA which launched two special space missions,Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) andSpace Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1)^[4] dedicated to monitoring of space climate.^[5] New results, ideas and discoveries in the field of Space Climate are published in a focused peer-review researchJournal of Space Weather and Space Climate (JSWSC).^[6] Since 2013, research awards and medals in space weather and space climate are annually awarded by the European Space Weather Week.^[7] Another recent space observatory platform is theSolar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE).

Space climate research has three main aims:^[1]

1. to better understand the long-termsolar variability, including also the observed extremes and features of this variability in thesolar wind and in theheliospheric magnetic field
2. to better understand the physical relationships between theSun, the heliosphere, and various relatedproxies (geomagnetic fields, cosmic rays, etc.)
3. to better understand the long-term effect of solar variability on the near-Earth environment, including the different atmospheric layers, and ultimately on Earth's global climate

In the early 2000s, when the concept of space weather became common, a small initiative group, led by Kalevi Mursula andIlya G. Usoskin theUniversity of Oulu in Finland had realized that physical drivers of solar variability and its terrestrial effects can be better understood with a more general and broader view. The concept ofSpace Climate had been developed, and the corresponding research community formed, which presently includes a few hundred active members around the world. In particular, a series of International Space Climate Symposia (biennial since 2004) was organized,^[8] with the first inaugural symposium being held in Oulu (Finland) in 2004, followed by those in Romania (2006), Finland (2009), India (2011), Finland (2013), Finland (2016), Canada (2019), Poland (2022) and Japan (2024) as well as topical space climate sessions are regularly held at the General Assemblies of theCommittee on Space Research and Earth Science.^[9][10]

Research results related to Space Climate are published in a bunch of peer-reviewed journals, such asAstronomy & Astrophysics,Journal of Geophysical Research,Geophysical Research Letters,Solar Physics (journal),Advances in Space Research.

• Aeronomy
• Planetary science,atmospheric sciences, andatmospheric physics
• Solar activity and climate
• Solar irradiance
• Space weather
• Space weathering
• Stellar astronomy

• Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate (JSWSC)
• United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs'Space and Climate Change program

• Space weather
• Space physics
• Space science
• Geophysics
• Climate
• Solar System
• Sun
• Climatology

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata