The Space EnvironmentThe apparent void between Sun and Earth is actually a maelstrom of wind and storm, with interludes of calm, always bathed in the harsh glow of ultraviolet and x-ray light. So strong is the outpouring solar wind that Earth's magnetic envelope is distorted, quivering even as it protects the fragile life on our planet. |
NOAA Space Environment Center is the Nation's official source of space weather alerts and warnings. The Center continually monitors and forecasts Earth's space environment; provides accurate, reliable, and useful solar-terrestrial information; conducts and leads research and development programs to understand the environment and to improve services; advises policy makers and planners; plays a leadership role in the space weather community; and fosters a space weather services industry.
The Space Environment Center (SEC) is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. SEC's parent organization is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Within NOAA, SEC is in the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and one of NOAA's 8 National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). SEC conducts research in solar-terrestrial physics, develops techniques for forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances, and provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events.
The Center has three divisions:
The three divisions work cooperatively on the overlapping tasks of the Center.
SEC's research scientists, working toward a better understanding of the Sun-Earth connection, study the Sun's electromagnetic, particle, and magnetic-field emissions and the processes by which they affect Earth's space environment.
New instruments and observing techniques continue to improve the accuracy of SEC's data, and new data sets are constantly being added to improve space weather monitoring and analysis. Because some of these data sets come from satellite observations, SEC takes a leading role in advocating and designing new data systems that will fly on government satellites.
SEC's Space Weather Operations (SWO) is the national and world warning center for disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in the space environment. Jointly operated by NOAA and the U.S. Air Force, SWO provides forecasts and warnings of solar and geomagnetic activity to users in government, industry, and the private sector.
To serve the Nation and reduce adverse effects of space weather disturbances on human activities, SEC:
Synthesizes and disseminates information about past, present, and future conditions in the space environment for space weather users and private industry vendors; prepares the data that is acquired for the national archive at NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center.
With the U.S. Air Force, operates the Space Weather Operations Center which monitors solar and geomagnetic activity 24 hours a day; disseminates information on the solar-terrestrial environment; alerts private, commercial, government, and military users when possibly disruptive or dangerous changes occur in the space environment; issues daily forecasts of space environment conditions; and acts as the World Warning Agency for the space environment.
Leads in development and implementation of programs in solar-terrestrial physics and space environment services by conducting research and developing techniques that improve monitoring and forecasting.
Conducts research into phenomena affecting the Sun-Earth environment: emission of electromagnetic radiation and particles from the Sun; transmission of solar energy to Earth via the solar wind; interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field, ionosphere, and atmosphere.
Develops programs for space environment monitors, such as X-ray imagers and low-energy particle detectors, to operate on NOAA satellites.
Engages in collaboration with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado and with guest workers from around the world.