Space Weather Prediction Center
Forecasters inside the SWPC. | |
Agency overview | |
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Preceding |
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Headquarters | 39°59′30″N 105°15′40″W / 39.991618°N 105.261188°W |
Parent agency | National Centers for Environmental Prediction |
Website | www |
Part of a series on the |
United States space program |
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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
The Space Weather Prediction Center is one of the nine
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
Forecast limitations
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
- Coronal mass ejection (CME)
- Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG)
- Boulder Geomagnetic Observatory (BOU)
Notes
- ^ "2009 Community Review of the NCEP Space Weather Prediction Center" (PDF document). December 2009. pp. 7–8. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^ Vastag, Brian (20 Jan 2012), "Sun shoots a fastball at Earth, but minimal impact expected", The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com, retrieved 21 Jan 2012
- ^ [1]