Building planetary preparedness: The Arctic Circle as space weather sentinel territory

Abstract

This chapter traces the emergence of the Arctic as a vital region for generating scientific data on “space weather”. Space weather refers to electromagnetic disturbances that arise when charged particles ejected from the Sun interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. These energetic interactions can produce powerful electrical currents in the upper atmosphere that can disrupt communications systems and induce destructive high-voltage surges in the electronics of spaceborne and terrestrial infrastructure. Throughout the twentieth century, space weather has steadily emerged as a growing security threat to the critical systems that underpin industrialised societies. Scientific infrastructure stationed in the Arctic plays a strategic role in building preparedness for space weather events. As a high-latitude region where the Earth’s magnetic field lines converge, the Arctic is seen to offer a unique site for studying space weather activity. The majority of space weather research in this region is conducted by the European Incoherent Scatter Association (EISCAT), an international consortium of space agencies and research councils from several countries. Charting the rise of EISCAT and outlining the history of the polar region as a data-generation site for auroral and ionospheric science, this chapter explores how the electromagnetic and atmospheric affordances of the Fenno-Scandinavian Arctic have configured this area as a sentinel territory for space weather preparedness. In doing so this chapter examines how developments in space science and technology have repositioned polar geographies in relation to outer space, to the international knowledge economy and to the future security of an increasingly technologised planet.