A survey of customers of space weather information

Abstract

[1] We present an analysis of the users of space weather information based on 2783 responses to an online survey among subscribers of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center e-mail services. The survey requested information focused on the three NOAA space weather scales: geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms, and radio blackouts. Space weather information is most commonly obtained for reasons of human safety and continuity or reliability of operations. The information is primarily used for situational awareness, as aid to understand anomalies, to avoid impacts on current and near-future operations by implementing mitigating strategies, and to prepare for potential near-future impacts that might occur in conjunction with contingencies that include electric power outages or GPS perturbations. Interest in, anticipated impacts from, and responses to the three main categories of space weather are quite uniform across societal sectors. Approximately 40% of the respondents expect serious to very serious impacts from space weather events if no action were taken to mitigate or in the absence of adequate space weather information. The impacts of space weather are deemed to be substantially reduced because of the availability of, and their response to, space weather forecasts and alerts. Current and near-future space weather conditions are generally highly valued, considered useful, and generally, though not fully, adequate to avoid or mitigate societal impacts. We conclude that even among those receiving space weather information, there is considerable uncertainty about the possible impacts of space weather and thus about how to act on the space weather information that is provided.Citation: Schrijver, C. J., and J. P. Rabanal (2013), A survey of customers of space weather information, Space Weather, 11, 529-541,

Understanding space weather to shield society: A global road map for 2015–2025 commissioned by COSPAR and ILWS

“…The official US space-weather forecast center (the Space Weather Prediction Center of the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), for example, sees a continuing rapid growth in subscribers to its "Product Subscription Service" 7 that was initiated in 2005 and that exceeded 40,000 individual subscribers early in 2014. A survey of the subscribers to the SWPC service in 2013 enabled an assessment of the interests from the user side (Schrijver and Rabanal, 2013), which concluded that "[s]pace weather information is most commonly obtained for reasons of [indirect impacts through interruptions of power or communications on] human safety and continuity or reliability of operations. The information is primarily used for situational awareness, as aid to understand anomalies, to avoid impacts on current and near-future operations by implementing mitigating strategies, and to prepare for potential nearfuture impacts that might occur in conjunction with contingencies that include electric power outages or GPS perturbations.…”

“…As with terrestrial weather, this means that the economic value of space weather forecasts likely significantly exceeds the total costs of detrimental impacts, and that this value would increase as forecast accuracy and specificity would increase. Other valuable uses of space weather information as indicated by the subscribers to space-weather information lie in anomaly analysis and system design specification (Schrijver and Rabanal, 2013).…”

“…1), and in the variety of strategic studies and reports (see Section 2). Of the subscribers to the SWPC electronic alert and forecast services customers, only about 20% deem the quality and content of the available information adequate (Schrijver and Rabanal, 2013). Even though about two-thirds of these customers considers the information "generally adequate", the forecasts leave much to be desired owing to a lack of scientific understanding in multiple sectors of the Sun-Earth connected system and to a poor knowledge of the magnitude of impacts.…”

Why Space Weather Is Relevant to Electrical Power Systems

“…Indeed, Schrijver [] indicates that the economic benefits of mitigation could exceed the cost. However, there are various difficulties: Posner et al [] identified the inadequacy of existing solar monitoring instruments and the models for operational forecasting; the geophysical models of space weather and ground conductivity are not yet adequately integrated into GIC forecasting [ Lanzerotti , ]; the physical implementation of reducing GICs by installing neutral reactors and series capacitors is complex [ Arajärvi et al, ]; and most customers of space weather information lack the knowledge of how to respond to it [ Schrijver and Rabanal , ].…”

The Space Weather Threat to Situational Awareness, Communications, and Positioning Systems

“…However, there are potentially devastating problems at much lower levels of space environmental disturbances. A recent paper by Schrijver and Rabanal [23] shows that commercial users believe they could use space weather data to mitigate more routine, but nonetheless serious impacts to routine services such as GPS positioning and even commercial power.…”