• Airline Workshop on Space Weather
• Space Weather Week 2004
• American Meteorological Society Meeting in Seattle
• GOES-R User Conference Coming in May
• New Radiation Belt Findings presented at AGU Meeting
• Early History of Space Environment Center
• New EPAM Data for ACE RTSW
• Space Weather Free Access Period Over

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Airline Workshop on Space Weather

On February 23-24, 2004, Space Environment Center, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and SolarMetrics hosted a workshop on integrating space weather information into the operating procedures for commercial airlines. Approximately 70 attendees, including representatives from United, American, Northwest, Delta, and Continental from the U.S., and Lufthansa, Qantas, British Airways, Air New Zealand and Virgin Atlantic from abroad, were in attendance. In addition, representatives from FedEx, NetJets, the FAA, NOAA NCEP, the airline pilot and flight attendant unions, and scientists from both the health sciences and physical sciences participated.

The idea for the workshop was born following the Halloween Space Weather Storms of 2003, when many carriers took evasive action away from the polar regions, the part of the globe most seriously affected by the inclement space weather. Impacts were not confined to the polar regions, however, as space weather affected lower latitude operations too. The workshop focused on communication, navigation, and radiation issues that had a direct impact on passengers, crews, and airplanes. The intent was to have a better understanding of the degree of severity of those impacts, and to develop the appropriate strategies to use during strong space weather events. Eventually, the plan will involve working with the national and international regulatory agencies to formalize procedures used during space weather events.

Space Environment Center plays a strong role in educating the airline industry on space weather, and providing valued products and services to the airlines to ensure safety for their flights. This is the second workshop of this type; the first was also held in Boulder in 2002.

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Space Weather Week is nearly here. It begins on Tuesday, April 13 and ends at noon on Friday April 16. It will have an outstanding gathering of people and excellent, relevant talks and posters.

The Halloween Storms of 2003 are forming the background of the effects and scientific research that will be discussed at length at the conference.

Space Weather Week 2004 is co-sponsored by the NOAA Space Environment Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the NSF Division of Atmospheric Science, and the NASA Sun-Earth Connection Program.

Details regarding the meeting agenda are posted at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/sww. The deadline for registration has passed, but you may call to see if there is still space for additional attendance.

Results of the conference will be summarized in the next few months, and if possible, presentations will be posted on our sww page at the SEC Website. So, if you miss the conference, you may be able to glean something of what was presented.

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American Meteorological Society Meeting in Seattle

The Americal Meteorological Society conference, new to most SEC staff, hit a home run for space weather this January. For the first time at AMS, there was a Space Weather Symposium, planned by a broad committee of our colleagues and led by Bob McCoy. Deputy Undersecretary Jack Kelly began the session with rousing support for space weather in NOAA. SEC, the Air Force, NASA, NSF, and University scientists all gave presentations about how space weather plays an important role in their work.

The Symposium on Space Weather was held all day Tuesday and half a day Wednesday. A summary of the Halloween events, discussions of the environment and many examples of space weather effects kept the meteorological audience delighted and entertained. The space weather professionals also enjoyed the recaps and the latest information presented in the talks. Everyone enjoyed the reception, courtesy of Lockheed Martin, which was followed by a showing of the IMAX film SOLARMAX.

The Symposium also included a joint session with the Symposium on Education, and many of the speakers were from NCAR, LASP, CU, and the Space Science Institute. Examples were shown on how to deliver curriculum and how to engage students. The entire the Symposium was an education for everyone at the meeting.

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GOES-R User Conference Coming in May

The third GOES-R User Conference will be held May 10-13, 2004, in Broomfield, CO. The conference is sponsored by NOAA.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) version "R" is to be launched in 2012 and will provide critical atmospheric, oceanic, climatic, solar and space data. The satellite will house an advanced imager, hyperspectral suite (including atmospheric sounding and coastal waters capabilities), lightning mapper, solar imager and space environment monitor.

GOES satellites are the mainstay of weather and space weather forecasting. The third generation of GOES will provide new data that is unlike anything seen before in the history of Earth observations (about one hundred times the amount of data currently provided).

The focus of the conference will be to help users prepare to acquire, digest and use GOES-R data and to assist with the advanced planning of instrument requirements, products, communications, and distribution of the data. The conference will consist of speaker presentations, poster sessions, and facilitated breakout sessions. Nearly 60 poster papers have already been contributed.

You may still have time to register if you would like to go. The conference will be held at the Omni Interlocken Resort, 500 Interlocken Blvd., Broomfield, CO 80021. The phone number is 303-438-6600. Mention the GOES Users Conference for a special rate.

See http://www.osd.noaa.gov/announcement/index.htm for more information.

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New Radiation Belt Findings presented at AGU Meeting

By Terry Onsager

Scientists at the NOAA Space Environment Center have reported a recent discovery on the sensitivity of the Earth's outer radiation belt to subtle changes in the solar wind. This new finding was presented at the American Geophysical Union Meeting in December 2003. The electron radiation belt is an important element of space weather, contributing to the radiation dose received by astronauts on the International Space Station and causing anomalous behavior and damage to spacecraft systems. Understanding the processes responsible for the observed rapid loss and regeneration of radiation belt electrons is a high priority for space weather operations and for space environment research.

The NOAA scientists, along with University of Colorado and Los Alamos National Laboratory colleagues, have demonstrated how a pre-conditioning of the Earth's magnetosphere, followed by a specific change in solar wind conditions, can create a rapid depletion of the radiation belt electrons. This result will be important for the development of physics-based models of the space environment that will lead to improved predictions of hazardous space weather conditions.

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Early History of Space Environment Center

As is customary in the government, SEC has been reorganized and renamed many times in the last 50 years. For this list, SEC
serves as a stand-in for the aliases.

1945

Space weather services that were needed for radio communication and radars during WWII began in Europe and then the U.S.

1946

SEC begins issuing daily warning-no warning forecasts.

1957

Sputnick launched by Russians. SEC and NCAR's High Altitude Observatory staff used their radio telescopes to track the satellite,
and provided the nation with predictions of the Sputnick Orbit for over a month.

1959

SEC begins its support for the planned NASA Mercury Missions by providing forecasts to enable reliable communications while
Mercury was in orbit. Close support continues to the present.

1963

President Kennedy declares that the U.S. will go to the Moon. Manned space flight is supported by SEC from then to the present.

1965

SEC begins routine forecasting service with USAF Air Weather Service.

1967

The SEC Forecast Center is declared "operational," staffed 24/7 with a forecaster, an observer, and a communications operator.

1970

NOAA is created within the Department of Commerce, and SEC is incorporated into NOAA (and renamed).

1990, 1994, 1998

SEC User Conferences held

1999-2004

Space Weather Week is conjoined with a research workshop, and named. It is now readying for its 6th Annual Meeting.

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New EPAM Data for ACE RTSW

By Kent Doggett

As many of you recall, one result of the intense space weather storms over Halloween was their adverse impact on the ACE EPAM instrument that supplied our real-time low-energy proton data. All but two of the proton channels were rendered useless for operations. During recent years, these data have become a valuable input for predicting the arrival of CMEs by monitoring shock-accelerated particles, and for characterizing the near-Earth particle environment impacting certain spacecraft operations. They were used extensively in real-time operations here at SEC, at AFWA, and at NASA Johnson and Marshall Space Fight Centers.

On Wednesday, February 4, the operational ACE EPAM data processing was switched from the failed proton sensor to another similar instrument on ACE. See ttp://www.sec.noaa.gov/ace/ The new proton channels cover the following energy ranges: 47-68 keV, 115-195 keV, 310-580 keV, and 1.06-1.9 MeV. Previous real-time electron (38-53, 175-315 keV) and proton (0.761-1.22 MeV) data from another unaffected sensor remain unchanged. The EPAM instrument supplying the new proton data is oriented at 120 degrees off the Sun-Earth line, back towards the Earth. A consequence of this is that particle bursts that reflect off the Earth's magnetosphere are now seen in these data. These bursts are most noticeable in the lower energy ranges, can occur several times a day, and can last for tens of minutes. Nevertheless, the impact of these bursts on real-time operations is expected to be minimal.

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Space Weather Free Access Period Over

Open access to Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications ended 1 April. Don't miss out on complete coverage of the latest space weather research, news, and information. Subscribe now at www.agu.org/journals/sw/?content=subscribe.

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Space Weather is published by AGU and co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the International Space
Environment Service.