20th Anniversary Talk

Author(s): Lilensten Jean

IPAG – CNRS

Abstract: 

In 2004, a group of Space Weather enthusiasts created the European Space Weather Week, along with the European Space Agency. It was a time of high solar activity: a series of events had occurred in October – November 2003 that had let observers breathless.

Twenty years later, the ESWW celebrates its 20th anniversary, while a new series of solar event occurred in 2024. In the meantime, many things have evolved. The recognition of Space Climate as a major topic of course. Many brilliant discoveries on the Sun, in the Solar Wind, in the Earth geospace. The emergence of the Artificial Intelligence. On a programmatic point of view, Space Weather and Space Climate got more organized everywhere and especially in Europe, and therefore more recognized by the numerous institutions. So many things that it would be impossible to summarize them all in a twenty-minute lecture.

In this communication, I will make a short comparison between the Nov 2003 and the May 2024 events, and use it as platform to show how our disciplines have grown in maturity and understanding, both on the understanding of the phenomenon’s and on its way to collaborate internationally and to get stronger.