The research coming out of the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) in 2023 ranged from fascinating to impactful. From La Niñas and El Niños to supercomputers named after wind and the impacts of literal wind, here are the highlights of NSF NCAR’s top science stories from the past year.

Scientists are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to view the Sun’s poles — or at least produce an educated guess of what the Sun’s poles might look like, since they’ve never been observed before.

A proposal for a spacecraft that would take a fresh look at the Sun — enabling a never-before-seen view of our star’s magnetic field — has received $2 million in funding from NASA for further study.

Scientists from the High Altitude Observatory will be onsite at Hovenweep National Monument

An NCAR-led project, CMEx, will attempt to understand the magnetic nature of solar eruptions and identify the magnetic sources of the solar wind.