Editorial: Space Weather Prediction: Challenges and Prospects

Space Weather Prediction: Challenges and ProspectsCoronal mass ejections (CMEs), launched from the Sun are known to be the main drivers of space weather.Earth-directed CMEs can produce severe impacts upon their arrival at the Earth by compressing the magnetosphere and reconnecting with the Earth's magnetic field.Although space weather studies carried out in the last 2 decades have improved our understanding of solar drivers, i.e., CMEs and flares, however accurate prediction of the space weather impact of a given CME still eludes us.Considerable progress has been achieved by researchers for estimation of arrival times with the development of semi-empirical/analytical models (Drag-Based Model); numerical simulations and Magnetohydrodynamic models (e.g., ENLIL, EUHFORIA), combined with observational techniques, such as interplanetary scintillation, wide-angle heliospheric imaging, and radio waves.However, there is no model developed yet that can accurately predict the arrival times and the geoeffectiveness of CMEs.CMEs are considered to propagate as magnetic flux ropes from the Sun to the Earth so that the magnetic field of the CME can be predicted at any point in the inner heliosphere.However, due to the lack of the CME magnetic field observations close to the Sun, estimating the magnetic field orientation of the CME at 1 AU is a major problem for forecasting.Furthermore, the impact of a single CME on the Earth's magnetosphere can be predicted to some extent with reliability.However, in the case of multiple CMEs, they may merge to form "complex ejecta," often resulting in severe space weather effects.In this research topic, several important contributions related to prediction of space weather impact of CMEs i.e. arrival time and geoeffectiveness have been included.In addition, research contributions related to the early evolution of CMEs i.e., magnetic flux ropes; the initial width distributions of slow and fast CMEs which play an important role in impacting space weather conditions have been reported.The research topic also includes an in-depth review by Vourlidas based on solar observations from a plethora of space missions, modelling efforts and on what has kept us holding back actionable medium term (hours to days) forecasting of space weather.The paper assesses 2 decades of research on solar drivers i.e., flux ropes observations in EUV and visible wavelengths from SOHO and SDO missions; multi-view point imaging of the Sun and tracking of the Earth-bound eruptions by twin STEREO spacecraft.The paper further highlights the bottle-necks in space weather forecasting and the current research gaps which include uncovering the magnetic configuration of the pre-eruptive structure; formation and dynamics of CMEs in the lower corona; propagation of CMEs in the interplanetary medium and its interaction with the ambient solar wind and CME-CME interaction.

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