Solar wind is the outward expansion of the solar corona, a tenuous outer atmosphere of the Sun existing at a million degree temperature, extending all the way to the edge of the solar system and merging with the interstellar plasma. Systematic studies of various phenomena such as the aurorae, geomagnetic storms, the zodiacal light and the fact that comet tail was always found to be directed away from the Sun despite it is approaching the Sun or receeding away led to the hypothesis of the existence of a "corpuscular emission" from the Sun and later the discovery of its existence as solar wind as postulated by E. N. Parker, in the 1950s, the early era of space exploration. Since then solar wind has been extensively studied.

Space Weather pertains to the study of the Sun, the interplanetary medium, the Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere, along with the spatial and temporal variations of conditions within and related areas. Similar to terrestrial weather, Space Weather refers to conditions in space that affect the Earth and its technological systems. The major influencing factors of Space Weather are the solar wind speed, density, the strength and direction of the magnetic field (IMF) carried by the solar wind as it flows out and the energetic particles, all controlled by the Sun through its magnetic activity. The changes in the characteristics of these factors in the solar wind can affect life on Earth and pose a threat to the technological systems on Earth and Space.

The intention of Space Weather studies is to safeguard the technological systems. This is being achieved by predicting the solar wind conditions near the terrestrial environment well ahead of time so that necessary measures to avoid damages could be taken. The state-of-the-art prediction scheme is based on the Potential Field Source Surface (PFSS) model. And, the prediction scheme is developed using an empirical inverse relation found to exist between the solar wind speed observed near the Earth and the flux expansion factor on the solar corona computed using the PFSS model. Despite attempts to imrpove the technique there exists significant discrepancies between the observed and the predicted solar wind properties. A major source of these discrepancies is the PFSS model itself. It is necessary to improve the model or device a new technique for the accuracy of space weather prediction, which is my main research interest.