Space Weather: Physics and Effects , Edited by VolkerBothmer and Ioannis A.Daglis , Praxis/Springer, New York, 2007. $199.00 (438 pp.). ISBN 978-3-540-23907-9

Space weather refers to variable conditions present in the Sun, in the intervening interplanetary medium, and in Earth’s space environment. In Space Weather: Physics and Effects , editors Volker Bothmer and Ioannis Daglis point out that space weather “provides new insights into the complex influences and effects of the Sun and other cosmic sources on interplanetary space, the Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere, on space- and ground-based technological systems, and beyond that, on their endangering effects to life and health.” Space weather successfully and seamlessly combines plasma physics with socioeconomic impact studies. The field is truly an interdisciplinary endeavor that will appeal to those scientists, policymakers, and space enthusiasts who are drawn to the fertile intellectual boundaries of what physicists traditionally study.

The volume surveys the broad expanse of space weather through 14 chapters contributed by 20 expert practitioners. Bothmer is a project leader with the Institute for Astrophysics at the University of Göttingen in Germany, and Daglis is the director of the Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing at the National Observatory of Athens in Greece. The articles, each standalone, cover three broad areas: radiation environments in space and their effects on humans and spacecraft hardware; the response of the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and the neutral upper atmosphere to solar storms; and space weather effects on power grids, global navigation satellite systems, and communications. Three chapters are devoted to an overview of solar physics, space weather forecasting, and comparisons of meteorology with space weather; they provide a sensible over-arching context for the remaining 11 specialized chapters. Particularly enjoyable is the chapter contributed by George Siscoe of Boston University, which compares meteorology with space weather and serves to highlight the complex relationship between forecasting operations and research.

The overall selection of contributors for the volume is rather curious. Of the 20 contributors, 14 are based at European institutions; the remaining 6 are based in the US. The list leaves the erroneous impression that Asia, Australia, and the rest of the Americas have little interest or expertise in space weather, and the book’s parochial outlook diminishes its strength and utility. In addition, the chapter on forecasting space weather is written by a researcher who is not a practicing space-weather forecaster. The book’s preface suggests that the selection is a conscious decision to underscore the remarkable successes and space-weather contributions of the joint effort by the European Space Agency and NASA in launching the Solar and Helio-spheric Observatory satellite, or SOHO.

The technical level of the articles is highly variable, with no sense of progression from one topic to the next. Four pages of acronyms and abbreviations are provided up front to assist the reader, but the proliferation of jargon and the contributors’ propensity to refer to all manner of effects, phenomena, organizations, and objects by unintelligible sequences of capitalized initials is eventually annoying. That said, I did find most of the articles to be comprehensive, clear, and engaging. But the contributions that disappointed me the most were those on topics in which I have the strongest research background and working knowledge. Those articles often failed to provide the deep physical insights that help to catalyze the reader’s comprehension and understanding. In light of that realization, I began to wonder just how accurate my glowing positive assessments of the other articles might be.

The above observations bring me to the question of precisely what niche the book fills. With the expensive price tag of $200 for the smart-looking hardback edition, the book will not reach graduate students, who would most benefit from its sweeping overview of the subject. Neither will it appeal to working space scientists and space-weather forecasters, who will find the treatments a little too superficial and lacking in critical technical detail: There are already several specialized monographs and conference proceedings that will better serve the needs of the experts. In addition, the technical detail and jargon make the book a difficult read for physical scientists interested in expanding their interdisciplinary horizons and for the science policy analyst wishing to come up to speed on how space weather will affect our technologically sophisticated global economy.

Although Space Weather tries unsuccessfully to fill the vast middle ground between popularizations and specialized technical treatments of the subject, its extensive reference lists at the end of each chapter are extremely valuable. I believe the book functions best by sitting on the library reference shelf where it can be readily consulted as needed.