In support of the National Space Weather Program (NSWP) Strategic and Implementation plans, the NSSDC archives provide excellent resource materials for conducting space weather-relevant research and educational activities. Many of the NSSDC products - data, models, algorithms (e.g., coordinate transformations, Satellite Situation Center SSC), and information about these products (their sources and locations), are easily accessible from the NSSDC on-line (anonymous ftp) or near-line (NDADS) archives.
The NSWP calls for the achievement of "an active, synergistic, interagency system to provide timely, accurate, and reliable space environment observations, specifications, and forecasts. It will build on existing capabilities and establish an aggressive, coordinated process to set national priorities, focus agency efforts, and leverage resources. The Program includes contributions from the user community, operational forecasters, researchers, modelers, and experts in instruments, communications, and data processing and analysis. It is a partnership between academia, industry, and government."
As stated in the NSWP Strategic Plan:
Space Weather refers to conditions on the sun and in the solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere that can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems and can endanger human life or health. Adverse conditions in the space environment can cause disruption of satellite operations, communications, navigation, and electric power distribution grids, leading to a variety of socioeconomic losses.
It is clear that space weather involves all the domains (solar wind, interplanetary space, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere) between the Sun and Earth. Adequate understanding of the physical processes affecting the coupling between these regions is fundamental to the construction of a reliable space weather forecast model, a goal of the NSWP and is also the objective of the NASA Sun-Earth Connection Program (Initiative, Roadmap).
It has been recognized that many of the research products (data, models, and algorithms) produced by the space physics research community, sponsored by various agencies (NASA, NSF, and DoD), are key ingredients in a future space weather forecast model. A number of meetings/workshops on space weather have been organized to discuss the transitioning of some of these research products into operational models. In order to provide an overview of an inventory and availability of some of these products, we have organized and presented the space weather-relevant assets at the NSSDC.
The following table, adapted from the NSWP Implementation Plan, shows the topics on which resources (data, models, and information) are available from selected NSSDC holdings and can be accessed.
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Solar/Solar Wind: | |
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Coronal mass ejections | |
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Solar activity/flares | |
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Solar and galactic energetic particles | |
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Solar UV/EUV/soft x-rays | |
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Solar radio noise | |
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Solar wind |
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Magnetosphere: | |
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Magnetospheric particles and fields | |
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Geomagnetic disturbances |
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Radiation belts | |
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Ionosphere/Thermosphere: | |
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Aurora |
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Ionospheric properties |
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Ionospheric electric fields | |
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Ionospheric disturbances |
Digital topside sounder (ISIS/Alouette) and ISTP ground-based HF-radar data are available from the data links below.
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Ionospheric scintillations |
Digital topside sounder (ISIS/Alouette) and ISTP ground-based HF-radar data are available from the data links below.
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Atmosphere | |
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Neutral atmosphere
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Responsible Officials:
Dr. Robert E. McGuire,Last Modified: