Dear Colleagues,

Influence of solar activity and associated disturbances of interplanetary medium on the lower atmosphere circulation, weather, and climate remain one of the most important problems in contemporary solar–terrestrial physics. This problem is not limited to a purely scientific framework. Climate changes noticeably affect economic and social activities, so knowledge of the nature of solar–atmospheric links has a significant practical importance allowing us to improve weather and climate forecasts. Moreover, the question of how solar activity influences the Earth’s atmosphere has acquired special significance in recent decades due to a lively discussion of the possible reasons for global warming. However, in spite of numerous works devoted to solar–atmospheric links, the physical mechanism of solar activity influence on the atmosphere dynamics remains unclear, which is due to its rather complex nature. First of all, there are many solar factors affecting the atmosphere. Solar variability results in changes of total and ultraviolet solar irradiance, disturbances in solar wind and interplanetary magnetic fields, variations in solar and galactic cosmic ray fluxes, precipitations of auroral electrons, and electrons from the radiation belts. These factors may influence the atmosphere simultaneously and in different ways, which often makes it difficult to assess their contributions to the overall atmospheric response. Another serious problem is spatial and temporal variability of solar activity effects, which seems to arise from the influence of the atmosphere itself on the formation of its response to solar activity phenomena. Thus, the physical mechanism of solar–atmospheric links still contains many uncertainties and needs further comprehensive studies, using both experimental and model data. This Special Issue aims to clarify different aspects of solar activity influence on the atmospheric circulation, weather, and climate and contribute toa  better understanding of processes involved in the formation of atmospheric response to solar variability.

Dr. Svetlana Veretenenko
Dr. Alexei Krivolutsky
Guest Editors

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• solar activity
• cosmic rays
• solar-atmospheric links
• atmospheric circulation
• weather
• climate