FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2007

MEDIA ADVISORY

SOLAR WEATHER IMPACTS GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS)

Last December, the NOAA Space Environment Center observed a significant solar radio burst during what scientists commonly refer to as the solar minimum. Hear from leading scientists about this record setting event and learn about the newly observed and significant impacts this solar storm had on Global Positioning System (GPS) and other radio wave technologies.

WHAT: News Conference on the impacts of solar radio bursts on global positioning systems and other technologies

WHERE: Hotel Washington
515 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20004

WHEN: April 4, 2007 at 12 noon EDT

WHO: Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, director, NOAA National Weather Service
Paul M. Kintner, Jr., Ph.D., professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University
Dale Gary, Ph.D., chair and professor, Physics Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Tony Mannucci, Ph.D., principal member of the Technical Staff and Supervisor, Ionospheric and Atmospheric Remote Sensing Group, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Patricia Doherty, co-director and senior research scientist, Boston College Institute for Scientific Research
Anthea Coster, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory

The NOAA Space Environment Center is the nation's first alert of solar activity and its affects on our atmosphere. Like the NOAA National Hurricane Center, the Space Environment Center is one of NOAA's nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

Relevant Web Sites:
NOAA Space Environment Center

Media Contact:
Carmeyia Gillis, NOAA Space Environment Center, (301) 763-8000 ext. 7163