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NOAA laboratory and service center
The
Space Weather Prediction Center
(
SWPC
), named the
Space Environment Center
(
SEC
) until 2007,
[1]
is a laboratory and service center of the US
National Weather Service
(NWS), part of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), located in
Boulder, Colorado
.
[2]
SWPC continually monitors and forecasts Earth's
space environment
, providing
solar
-
terrestrial
information. SWPC is the official source of
space weather
alerts and warnings for the
United States
.
Description
[
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]
The Space Weather Prediction Center is one of the nine
National Centers for Environmental Prediction
(NCEP) and provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and
geophysical
events, conducts research in solar-terrestrial physics (i.e.
heliophysics
), and develops techniques for forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances. The SWPC Forecast Center is jointly operated by NOAA and the
U.S. Air Force
(USAF) and is the
national and world warning center
for disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in the
space
environment. SWPC works with many national and international partners who contribute data and observations.
A few of the agencies and industry that rely on SWPC services:
- U.S. power grid infrastructure
- Commercial airline industry
- Department of Transportation
(use of
GPS
)
- NASA
human space flight activities (NASA relies on SWPC data to protect the $1 billion arm on the
International Space Station
(ISS))
- Satellite launch and operations
- U.S. Space Force operational support
- Commercial and public users (more than half a million hits per day on SWPC web sites)
The
Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) requires dispatchers to take into consideration
HF
communication degradation for each dispatched polar flight. Flights can be diverted based on SWPC solar radiation alerts if
air traffic control
(ATC) communication is compromised, with estimated costs as high as $100K per flight. A 23-day period in 2001 saw 25 flights diverted due to such
radio blackouts
.
Forecast limitations
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]
The Center does not issue atmospheric density forecasts for commercial space launches. The loss of 38
Starlink
satellites in February 2022 prompted scientists to call for it to do so.
[3]
See also
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Notes
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]
External links
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]