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This article reviews atmospheric changes associated with 44 solar eclipses, beginning with the first quantitative results available, from 1834 (earlier qualitative accounts also exist). Eclipse meteorology attracted relatively few publications until the total solar eclipse of 16 February 1980, with the 11 August 1999 eclipse producing the most papers. Eclipses passing over populated areas such as Europe, China and India now regularly attract scientific attention, whereas atmospheric measurements of eclipses at remote locations remain rare. Many measurements and models have been used to exploit the uniquely predictable solar forcing provided by an eclipse. In this paper, we compile the available publications and review a subset of them chosen on the basis of importance and novelty. Beyond the obvious reduction in incoming solar radiation, atmospheric cooling from eclipses can induce dynamical changes. Observations and meteorological modelling provide evidence for the generation of a local eclipse circulation that may be the origin of the 'eclipse wind'. Gravity waves set up by the eclipse can, in principle, be detected as atmospheric pressure fluctuations, though theoretical predictions are limited, and many of the data are inconclusive. Eclipse events providing important early insights into the ionization of the upper atmosphere are also briefly reviewed.This article is part of the themed issue 'Atmospheric effects of solar eclipses stimulated by the 2015 UK eclipse'., (© 2016 The Author(s).)

Long-duration observations of Neptune's brightness at two visible wavelengths provide a disk-averaged estimate of its atmospheric aerosol. Brightness variations were previously associated with the 11-year solar cycle, through solar-modulated mechanisms linked with either ultraviolet or galactic cosmic ray (GCR) effects on atmospheric particles. Here, we use a recently extended brightness data set (1972-2014), with physically realistic modelling to show, rather than alternatives, ultraviolet and GCR are likely to be modulating Neptune's atmosphere in combination. The importance of GCR is further supported by the response of Neptune's atmosphere to an intermittent 1.5- to 1.9-year periodicity, which occurred preferentially in GCR (not ultraviolet) during the mid-1980s. This periodicity was detected both at Earth, and in GCR measured by Voyager 2, then near Neptune. A similar coincident variability in Neptune's brightness suggests nucleation onto GCR ions. Both GCR and ultraviolet mechanisms may occur more rapidly than the subsequent atmospheric particle transport.

Two vertical cosmic ray telescopes for atmospheric cosmic ray ionization event detection are compared. Counter A, designed for low power remote use, was deployed in the Welsh mountains; its event rate increased with altitude as expected from atmospheric cosmic ray absorption. Independently, Counter B's event rate was found to vary with incoming particle acceptance angle. Simultaneous co-located comparison of both telescopes exposed to atmospheric ionization showed a linear relationship between their event rates.

Motivated by the detection of infrared absorption bands from atmospheric cluster ions in laboratory experiments, a narrowband filter radiometer has been constructed for ion detection in the atmosphere. It uses a filter centered at 9.15 mum wavelength with 5% bandwidth, protected by a diamond-like-carbon coated germanium auxiliary filter, and fitted to a standard pyrradiometer. A sensitivity of (29.3+/-0.1) microV/(W m(-2)) has been determined in a laboratory calibration using a blackbody source. Atmospheric experiments show that the filter radiometer, when used with a stable, low-noise amplifier, can respond to cluster-ion fluctuations. The filter radiometer's sensitivity to atmospheric ion changes is (0.47+/-0.05) (mW m(-2))/(ions cm(-3)).