Space Science and Space Weather: A Research to Operations Continuum at NOAA

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is the nation's official source of space weather alerts, watches and warnings with a mission to "deliver space weather products and services that meet the evolving needs of the nation." The scope of SWPC activities ranges from understanding the needs of those affected by space weather to the delivery of products and services that protect national assets and human activities. To carry out this work we benefit from partnerships such as those with other agencies, universities, the international community and commercial service providers. In this presentation we will describe the continuum of activities involved in the research to operations process and the essential role played by scientific research throughout the process. We will identify research that is needed to provide better scientific understanding, to enable improved models and to carry out much needed observations. The presentation will highlight recent work on the transition of space weather models to operations and focus on examples related to large scale numerical models of the Geospace environment. As an example of the process for evaluating potential new products, we will describe initial research results that examine the prediction of storm enhanced density affecting Global Position System navigation services.