[TIPSdiscussion] The SUN awakens !
- From: KB1NAL <kb1nal@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tipsdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 15:40:08 -0700 (PDT)
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As the Sun Awakens, NASA Keeps a Wary Eye on Space Weather
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June 4, 2010: Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that's
new to human history. To make preparations, authorities in Washington DC are
holding a meeting: The Space Weather Enterprise Forum at the National Press
Club on June 8th.
Many technologies of the 21st century are vulnerable to solar storms. [more]
Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division, explains what it's all
about:
"The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect
to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our
technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar
storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we're getting together to
discuss."
The National Academy of Sciences framed the problem two years ago in a landmark
report entitled "Severe Space Weather Eventsâ??Societal and Economic Impacts."
It noted how people of the 21st-century rely on high-tech systems for the
basics of daily life. Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial
services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense
solar activity. A century-class solar storm, the Academy warned, could cause
twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.
Much of the damage can be mitigated if managers know a storm is coming. Putting
satellites in 'safe mode' and disconnecting transformers can protect these
assets from damaging electrical surges. Preventative action, however, requires
accurate forecastingâ??a job that has been assigned to NOAA.
"Space weather forecasting is still in its infancy, but we're making rapid
progress," says Thomas Bogdan, director of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction
Center in Boulder, Colorado.
Bogdan sees the collaboration between NASA and NOAA as key. "NASA's fleet of
heliophysics research spacecraft provides us with up-to-the-minute information
about what's happening on the sun. They are an important complement to our own
GOES and POES satellites, which focus more on the near-Earth environment."
Click on the image to play a 39 MB movie about space weather and NASA's
heliophysics fleet. [more]
Among dozens of NASA spacecraft, he notes three of special significance:
STEREO, SDO and ACE.
STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is a pair of spacecraft
stationed on opposite sides of the sun with a combined view of 90% of the
stellar surface. In the past, active sunspots could hide out on the sun's
farside, invisible from Earth, and then suddenly emerge over the limb spitting
flares and CMEs. STEREO makes such surprise attacks impossible.
SDO (the Solar Dynamics Observatory) is the newest addition to NASA's fleet.
Just launched in February, it is able to photograph solar active regions with
unprecedented spectral, temporal and spatial resolution. Researchers can now
study eruptions in exquisite detail, raising hopes that they will learn how
flares work and how to predict them. SDO also monitors the sun's extreme UV
output, which controls the response of Earth's atmosphere to solar variability.
On April 19, 2010, SDO observed one of the most massive eruptions in years.
Earth was not in the line of fire ... this time. [full story]
Bogdan's favorite NASA satellite, however, is an old one: the Advanced
Composition Explorer (ACE) launched in 1997. "Where would we be without it?" he
wonders. ACE is a solar wind monitor. It sits upstream between the sun and
Earth, detecting solar wind gusts, billion-ton CMEs, and radiation storms as
much as 30 minutes before they hit our planet.
"ACE is our best early warning system," says Bogdan. "It allows us to notify
utility and satellite operators when a storm is about to hit.â??
NASA spacecraft were not originally intended for operational forecastingâ??"but
it turns out that our data have practical economic and civil uses," notes
Fisher. "This is a good example of space science supporting modern society."
2010 marks the 4th year in a row that policymakers, researchers, legislators
and reporters have gathered in Washington DC to share ideas about space
weather. This year, forum organizers plan to sharpen the focus on critical
infrastructure protection. The ultimate goal is to improve the nationâ??s
ability to prepare, mitigate, and respond to potentially devastating space
weather events.
"I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as
influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather." Fisher
concludes. "We take this very seriously indeed."
For more information about the meeting, please visit the Space Weather
Enterprise Forum home page at http://www.nswp.gov/swef/swef_2010.html.
Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
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REFERENCE:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/04jun_swef/
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