**3.1 Material and methods**

*Arctic Studies - A Proxy for Climate Change*

**Figure 1.**

solar wind plasma has also direct access to the upper atmosphere. The polar regions are thus of extreme importance when it comes to understanding the physical

*Earth's protective shield: magnetosphere is that area of space, around a planet, that is controlled by the planet's magnetic field, whose shape is the direct result of being blasted by solar wind; a supersonic shock wave is created sunward of earth called the Bow shock; the magnetosheath is the region of space between the magnetopause (the outer boundary of Earth's confined geomagnetic field) and the Bow shock; the plasmasphere, or inner magnetosphere, is a region of the Earth's magnetosphere consisting of low energy (cool) plasma; the ionosphere is the ionized part of Earth's upper atmosphere; the polar cusps are funnel-shaped* 

In the cusp areas, the impacts of the solar wind (SW) on the Earth's magnetosphere manifest most strongly, and multiple phenomena originating as consequences of such interactions are referred to as space weather. It can be truly said that space weather affects everybody, either directly or indirectly. Space weather is defined by the U.S. National Space Weather Program (NSWP) as "conditions on the Sun and in the solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere that can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based techno-

**2. Magnetosphere-ionosphere emissions and waves in the polar regions**

(f ~ 1018 Hz) [10]. The complexity and diversity of physical phenomena associated with solar activity and transmitted to earth through solar-terrestrial connections make the issue of identifying bioeffective agents in the space weather

Space weather begins at the sun. The sun exhibits an 11-year cycle of sunspots that are visible manifestations of increased solar magnetic field. Certain larger flares produce solar radio bursts of broadband noise from 10 MHz to 10 GHz that may directly affect GPS receivers on the dayside of the earth. Terrestrial effects are the result of three general types of conditions on the Sun: eruptive flares, disappearing filaments, and coronal holes facing Earth [9], on which the nature of magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions depends. The magnetosphere and the ionosphere of the Earth are sources of electromagnetic oscillations and waves, many of which are detected in the form of radiation outside the region of generation, in particular, on the surface of the Earth. The electromagnetic radiation range of the magnetosphere and ionosphere overlaps in frequency by many orders of magnitude—from the lowest frequencies of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)

Hz) to X-rays of energetic electrons in the upper atmosphere

processes in the near space and their effect on our environment" [6].

*regions in the frontal part of the magnetopause at geomagnetic latitudes of ~75°.*

logical systems and can endanger human life or health" [7, 8].

**56**

waves (f ~ 5–10<sup>−</sup><sup>3</sup>

The unique data characterizing morbidity of the residents in the Russian settlements of the Barentsburg (1985–1993), including the females, were used in the study. The statistics on the complications about pregnancy and the postpartum period in women, who lived in the archipelago during the time of the former USSR, provide invaluable information that allows assessing the effect of space weather associated with the polar cap and the polar cusp on pregnant women. Today, such research is extremely difficult, because the residence of pregnant women in the Spitsbergen archipelago is undesirable.

The monthly statistical reports on the morbidity structure in the Barentsburg mine hospital (1985–1993) were basis for analysis [15]. All data of morbidity were normalized on 1000 people of residents in the Barentsburg. The average number of inhabitants in each Russian settlement (Barentsburg and Pyramid) was about 1000, where one third were women. The average monthly data characterizing the CA were selected in the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC): Solar Data Services (http: //www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/ftp: sunspotnumber.html); intensity of the secondary cosmic rays (CR) was estimated by neutron count rate (ground station of the neutron monitor of the PGI KSC Russian Academy of Sciences in the Apatity and in the Barentsburg). Statistical data analysis was performed using the software Statistica 10.0 and the graphing was carried out using the software package ORIGIN50.
