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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
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1

Introduction and Workshop Background

As noted in the Preface, in late 2019 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was approached by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation with a request to “appoint an ad hoc committee to organize a workshop that will consider options for continuity and future enhancements of the U.S. space weather operational and research infrastructure” (see Appendix A for details). In addition to reviewing current and planned capabilities across the space weather research and operations domain, the charge asked the workshop organizers to consider options for the extension of the Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) program managed by NOAA. The workshop plans were subsequently directed toward the latter after consideration of task magnitude, logistics, and sponsorship. The “Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure Workshop” was conducted in two parts, the first taking place on June 16-17, 2020, and the second on September 9-11, 2020.

The more than 100 participants in attendance for both the June and September sessions were generally aware of the current drivers for space weather research and/or applications, including the increased interest in the U.S. agency-sponsored activities generated by the interagency National Space Weather Action Plan (NSWAP) organizational meetings and reports, together with the 2013 solar and space physics decadal survey1 and its midterm assessment.2 As seen in this proceedings, the workshop resulted in a broad assessment of

  • Space weather “needs” in areas from science research to applications;
  • The important observations for both monitoring and improving models;
  • The value of coordinated efforts across communities, agencies, and nations; and
  • Achievable post SWFO-L1 advances.

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1 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), 2013, Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/13060.

2 NASEM, 2020, Progress Toward Implementation of the 2013 Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics: A Midterm Assessment, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/25668.

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
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SPACE PHYSICS AND SPACE WEATHER

The introduction to Chapter 7, “Space Weather and Space Climatology: A Vision for Future Capabilities,” of the 2013 decadal survey provides the following succinct description of space weather, together with an explanation of its importance to a technological and space-faring society:

The availability of timely and reliable space-based information about our environment underpins elements of the infrastructure that are critical to a modern society. From economic and societal perspectives, reliable knowledge on a range of timescales of conditions in the geospace environment (including the mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, exosphere, geocorona, plasmasphere, and magnetosphere) is important for multiple applications, prominent among them utilization of radio signals (which enables increasingly precise navigation and communication), as well as mitigation of deleterious effects such as drag on Earth-orbiting objects (which alters the location of spacecraft, threatens their functionality by collisions with debris, and impedes reliable determination of reentry). In addition, energetic particles can damage assets and humans in space, and currents induced in ground systems can disrupt and damage power grids.3

While tropospheric weather is mainly generated at levels below the stratosphere, Earth’s space environment extends past the stratosphere to as far as human interests and technologies reach. The now widely used related term “space weather” was at least initially used primarily in describing space environment “effects” rather than the physics of the space environment itself. However, there has been a gradual shift as the field now referred to as “heliophysics” has grown and shed light on the many solar and space physics phenomena that determine the space environment. This workshop occurred against a backdrop of increasing interest in space weather’s origins and impacts and federal agency recognition of the continuum that exists between research to operations (R2O) and operations to research (O2R).

Heliophysics is typically separated into the following three subareas relevant to space weather: solar and heliospheric physics, which encompasses the Sun and interplanetary space; magnetospheric physics, which describes the region of interplanetary space proximate to Earth, where the physics is still controlled by Earth’s magnetic field; and upper atmospheric physics, which is focused on the atmosphere layers above stratospheric levels, including the mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere and the ionized portions of these making up the ionosphere.

The solar and heliospheric physics subfields are relevant to space weather interests such as solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) forecasting and radiation hazards to humans in space. These subdisciplines are coupled to the magnetospheric and upper atmosphere areas because the solar and related heliospheric conditions affect these other domains. Both the magnetospheric and upper atmosphere subfields (which is henceforth referred to as geospace) are key to characterizing the effects of the environment hosting most space assets serving societal needs, as well as determining how solar activity in its various forms and geospace dynamics affects Earth and its infrastructures—from power grids to navigation and communication systems (see Figure 1.1).

SPACE WEATHER FOLLOW-ON

The workshop statement of task included a request for an examination of space weather observational needs beyond SWFO, which is now under development (Figure 1.2). The primary goal of SWFO is to deliver observations that enable space weather forecasting by NOAA; it is comprised of two projects: a compact coronagraph (CCOR) to be carried by the Earth-orbiting GOES U spacecraft, and the SWFO mission that will place a spacecraft in the solar wind upstream of Earth, SWFO-L1.

SWFO-L1 is scheduled to launch in 2025 with NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission. This timing maintains observational continuity of real-time solar imagery and solar-wind

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3 NASEM, 2013, Solar and Space Physics, p. 135.

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
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Image
FIGURE 1.1 Space weather affects technological systems in space and on Earth’s surface. SOURCE: European Space Agency, 2018, “Space Weather Effects,” January 25, © ESA/Science Office, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo.

measurements currently provided by the combination of NOAA’s DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory), NASA’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer (ACE), and the NASA/European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Like ACE and DSCOVR, SWFO-L1 will be located in a halo orbit around the L1 Lagrange point, which is approximately 1.5 million km from Earth, where it will provide images of coronal conditions and in situ measurements of the solar wind approximately 30 minutes before it affects geospace. SWFO-L1 data will also be used in longer-lead forecast models of conditions at Earth’s orbital location from several days up to a month ahead.

A primary purpose of SWFO-L1 is to extend NOAA’s ability to provide warnings of Earth-directed CMEs that have the potential to cause major geomagnetic storms and their effects. It is important to recognize that in its overall mission, SWFO-L1 does not stand alone. Other key space weather observations from space- and ground-based sensors supported by NOAA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and the Department of Defense (DoD)/Air Force were also discussed in this workshop in the context of the following overarching question:

What current observations must continue, and what next major step(s) are needed, to produce more comprehensive and accurate space environment information for a society in which space-based and space-sensitive facilities and services increasingly depend on its availability?

Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
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Image
FIGURE 1.2 Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) program key technical components. NOTE: SWFO-L1 is now scheduled for launch in 2025. SOURCE: Elsayed Talaat, NOAA, “NOAA’s Current and Future Space Weather Architecture,” presentation to the workshop, June 16, 2020.
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
×
Page 6
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
×
Page 7
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
×
Page 8
Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction and Workshop Background." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26128.
×
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In response to a request from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - and with the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation - the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted a two-part virtual workshop, "Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure," on June 16-17 and September 9-11, 2020. The overall goals of the workshop were to review present space weather monitoring and forecasting capabilities, to consider future observational infrastructure and research needs, and to consider options toward the further development of an effective, resilient, and achievable national space weather program. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

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