This is an award to support the Space Weather Enterprise Forum (SWEF) being held on June 5, 2012 in Washington, DC, which brings together members of government at all levels, the private sector and academia, to raise awareness, improve understanding, and to educate all participants on opportunities, needs and priorities related to space weather. The forum focuses on the costs of space weather impacts and the benefits of improved space weather services with an emphasis on the anticipated needs of the user community from 2011 to 2020. Space weather scientists and service providers seek to better understand and serve society's needs for space weather information. The desired outcome is actionable information to drive improved space weather science, products, services, and applications to serve a broad user community.
This project included two separate activities: the Space Weather Enterprise Forum (SWEF) and the Tropical Cyclone Research Forum (TCRF). 1. Space Weather Enterprise Forum (SWEF) The 2012 SWEF was held in Washington, D.C., on June 5, 2012. The theme of the workshop was Solar Maximum 2013 – How Space Weather Will Affect You! The Nation faces many uncertainties from increasing reliance on space weather-affected technologies for communications, navigation, security, electrical power generation and distribution, and other activities. We also face increasing exposure to space weather-driven human health risks as transpolar flights and space activities, including space tourism and space commercialization, increase. The workshop was attended by approximately 210 representatives of the research and academic communities, industry, international stakeholder agencies, media, the Federal government and the military, and supporting staff. The workshop included four panel sessions dedicated to the following topics: 1. What is space weather and why it matters 2. Critical infrastructure protection, mitigation and response 3. The Unified National Space Weather Capability 4. Responding to new and emerging extreme events Key speakers included: Mr. Samuel P. Williamson, Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research; Dr. Cora Marrett, Deputy Director of the NSF; Dr. Tamara Dickinson from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP); and Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ). The outcome of the workshop was a report that offers assessments and specific recommendations in many topical areas. The finished 2012 SWEF report can be found at: www.ofcm.gov/swef/2012/SWEF%20SumReport%20v%20final.pdf Eleven media outlets covered the SWEF, including Space News, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Associated Press, Kyodo News (Japan), and Agence France Presse. NASA and NOAA Public Affairs provided live Twitter updates during the forum. The workshop is important to the Nation because it brings together the space weather community to share information among policymakers, senior government leaders, researchers, service-provider agencies, private-sector service providers, space weather information users, media, and legislators and staff from Capitol Hill. Its findings will contribute to improving the Nation’s ability to prepare for, avoid, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the potentially devastating impacts of space weather events on our health, economy, and national security. 2. Tropical Cyclone Research Forum (TCRF) The TCRF was held on March 5-7, 2013 at the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Maryland. The theme of the forum was "Tropical Cyclone Research: Our Vision for the Future". There were 255 total registrants; 114 registered to attend in person, and 141 participated virtually. The TCRF included plenary sessions, poster sessions, a Working Group for Hurricane and Winter Storms Operations and Research (WG/HWSOR) meeting and a panel discussion on the emergency response to Hurricane Sandy. Conference sessions addressed the following topics: 1. Tropical Cyclone Research, Federal Agency Overview 2. Working Group for Tropical Cyclone Research 3. Federal Modeling Initiatives 4. 2012 Tropical Cyclone Season in Review 5. Joint Hurricane Testbed Project Updates 6. Tropical Cyclone Model Development and Technology Transfer 7. Observations and Observing Strategies for Tropical Cyclones and their Environment 8. Improvements in Tropical Cyclone Forecast and Warning Products and Services 9. Social Science Applications to the Tropical Cyclone Forecast and Warning Notification Problem The Working Group for Hurricane and Winter Storms Operations and Research (WG/HWSOR) meeting was held virtually on March 4, 2013, immediately prior to the formal opening of the IHC/TCRF. Final working group results were presented during the final plenary session of the Tropical Cyclone Research Forum by the working group chair. The panel discussion on the Emergency Response to Hurricane Sandy was moderated by Mr. Brian Norcross from The Weather Channel. Panelists included Captain Thomas Scardino, Executive Officer, Emergency Management Section, New Jersey Homeland Security Branch, and Mr. Richard A. French, New York State Office of Emergency Management. Keynote speakers included Congressman Chaka Fattah, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies (CJS), and Dr. Louis Uccellini, Director, National Weather Service. The Richard H. Hagemeyer Award, which is presented annually to honor the memory of the Long-time Director of the NWS Pacific Region, was awarded to Dr. James D. McFadden, Chief, Programs and Projects at NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center, MacDill AFB, FL, for his substantial contributions to our Nation’s tropical cyclone forecast and warning program. The outcome of the forum was a report which includes key takeaways, future action items, and all of the presentations given. The report is available at: www.ofcm.gov/ihc13/summary.pdf The 2013 TCRF was sponsored by NSF, NOAA OAR and the Office of Naval Research. The conference is important because it brings together the academic research community, industry, Federal agencies and other user communities such as emergency management, to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season and make improvements to the Nation’s hurricane forecasting and warning program.
