The Space Weather Workshop is an annual conference that brings industry, academia, and government agencies together in a lively dialog about space weather. This workshop has evolved into the Nation's leading conference on all issues relating to space weather. The intellectual merit of the activity is critical to the advancement of knowledge, understanding and needs of the space weather research community. The workshop addresses the diverse impacts of space weather on today's technology. The program highlights space weather impacts in several areas, including communications, navigations, spacecraft operations, aviation, and electric power. The presentations and discussions at the Space Weather Workshop also focus on identifying the highest priority needs for operational services that can guide future research and identifying new high-value capabilities that can be transitioned into operations. The conference fosters communication among researchers, space weather service providers, and users of space weather services. The workshop will help develop mechanisms to generate actionable information to drive improved space weather science, products, services and application to serve a broad user community. The workshop also fosters coordinated interagency approaches to space weather education and outreach that will lead to better informed policy and decision makers yielding more support for research, operational improvements, and better service to the Nation.
The Space Weather Workshop is an annual conference that addresses the remarkably diverse impacts of space weather on today's technology, including communications, navigations, spacecraft operations, aviation, and electric power. The Space Weather Workshop also focuses on identifying the highest priority needs for operational services that can guide future research and identifying new high-value capabilities that can be transitioned into operations. The 2012 Space Weather Workshop was held in Boulder, Colorado, on April 24-27, 2012. It was attended by approximately 354 representatives from research centers, the commercial space weather services sector, international organizations, and several federal government agencies. Twenty-six undergraduate and graduate students were invited to attend the workshop, which was an excellent opportunity to meet and interact with colleagues in their research community. The workshop highlighted recent progress in large-scale modeling efforts and new developments in Sun-to-Earth coupled modeling systems. Researchers had the opportunity to discuss relevant research in many areas of the space environment. The workshop included plenary sessions, poster sessions and a roundtable discussion about growing the space weather enterprise. Plenary sessions addressed the following topics: 1. Space Weather Effects on Satellites 2. Aviation and Space Weather 3. Agency Activities 4. Decadal Survey 5. International Coordination of Space Weather Activities 6. Space Weather Prediction Modeling 7. Transiting Science to Applications 8. Geomagnetic Induced Currents 9. Modeling 10. Ionosphere Variability 11. Solar Cycle Poster sessions focused on the following topics: 1. Solar and Interplanetary Research and Applications 2. General Research/ Operations and Magnetospheric Research and Applications 3. Ionospheric Research The roundtable consisted of a panel represented by distinguished members of the public and private sector. The presentation focused on improving community visibility. Several solar storms have made headlines and there is increased public understanding of the importance of space weather to all segments of the economy. The discussion highlighted some of the important events and achievements across the space weather community, discussed their current status, and examined ways to collaborate for better understanding and funding. Keynote speakers included Dr. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Vice President, Science Programs, CSC, and former NOAA Administrator, and Dr. Madhulika (Lika) Guhathakurta from NASA. The complete 2012 Space Weather Workshop agenda, including all of the presentations given, can be found at: www.swpc.noaa.gov/sww/schedule_w_presentations12.html The workshop is important because it brings together the space weather community to share information among researchers, service-provider agencies, private-sector service providers, international organizations, space weather information users, and government agencies. The program contributes to improving knowledge about space weather impacts in several areas, including communications, navigations, spacecraft operations, aviation, and electric power.
