Info

Workshop Announcement

Solar-Planetary Coupling Effects on the Climate Evolution of
Earth and other Planets

Thursday, 15 May to Friday 16 May 2025

at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

Telegrafenberg A31, Potsdam, Germany

Dear colleagues,

We would like to cordially invite you to join us a small two-day research workshop on "Solar-Planetary Coupling Effects on the Climate Evolution of Earth and other Planets” funded by Geo.X and hosted at PIK, see the workshop summary below. Please also note that we can host only a limited number of participants. On the registration page we therefore kindly ask you to provide us with a few sentences on why you are interested in participating and how your expertise contributes to the aims of the workshop. 

Kindly register for participation (click here) until 1 May 2025 latest.

Many thanks! Dimitry Pokhotelov (PIK), Georg Feulner (PIK), Carsten Denker (AIP),  John Lee Grenfell (DLR IP), Yuri Shprits (GFZ).

Workshop summary:

Paleoclimate research helps us to understand the Earth’s past climates but also to assess the risks of future climate change. As the solar activity was very different in the past, the changes in solar-planetary coupling need to be considered. The key factors to consider are changing solar irradiance and radiation from outer space, changing solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), as well as varying strength and shape of the Earth’s own magnetic field. Especially on geological timescales, these factors may cause changes in atmospheric composition, chemistry and dynamics, e.g., in stratospheric ozone that is vital to the biosphere. Different interaction regimes between solar wind/IMF and the Earth’s/planetary magnetic field may accelerate the loss of atmospheric particles into space, change thermal energy input into the atmosphere, or enhance plasma outflow from the ionosphere. Enhanced precipitations of relativistic particles into the atmosphere may affect NOx formation/chemistry and deplete stratospheric ozone. Due to multi-disciplinary nature of the topic, communication between different institutions, within the local Geo.X network and worldwide, are vital. We organize a two-day workshop to bring together experts working on paleoclimate problematics and climate-relevant solar-planetary coupling topics to exchange expertise, identify key physical processes involved, and to plan joint publications and funding proposals.

This workshop is financially supported by Geo.X – The Research Network for Geosciences in Berlin and Potsdam, as part of the call “Grow Your Idea! – Developing new collaborative research in geo- and planetary science using existing competencies in the Geo.X network”. For further Information see https://www.geo-x.net/get-involved/grow-your-idea/