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Image Credit: NASA
Workshop on the Societal and Economic Impacts of Severe Space Weather Events
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Severe Space Weather Events – Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts Workshop Report
(Final Workshop Report)
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May 22-23, 2008
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Washington Plaza Hotel
10 Thomas Circle, N.W.
Washington, DC
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Agenda (check back for updates).
View Presentations
Registration Information.
(Please register BEFORE May 16th. The meeting is free and open to the public up to the occupancy limits of the meeting space.)
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A day and a half workshop to assess the Nation’s current and future ability to manage space weather events and their societal and economic impacts. Approximately 25 invited speakers will address current utilization of space weather information as well as past and future effects of severe space weather on the private and public sectors. There will also be scheduled time for extensive discussion sessions, which will involve all participants. The workshop is free and open to the public.
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Background
Activity on the surface of the Sun and in the solar atmosphere, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, can cause high and disturbed levels of plasma (particles), electromagnetic radiation (e.g. radio waves, infrared and visible light, and X-rays), and magnetic and electric fields. These manifestations of solar activity and their influence in space and at Earth on technologies are known as "Space Weather." Adverse space weather events can cause a variety of socioeconomic losses by disrupting satellite operations, space- and ground-based communications, navigation, and electric power distribution. Astronauts and passengers in aircraft, especially those flying at high altitudes and on routes at high latitudes, are also vulnerable to space weather effects. The Nation's vulnerability to space weather effects is an issue of increasing concern. However, relatively few detailed studies of the socioeconomic impacts of severe space weather events have been carried out.
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Workshop Approach
Although cost/benefit analyses of terrestrial weather observing systems and mitigation strategies have a long history, similar studies for space weather are lacking. Workshop sessions will include an analysis of the effects of historical space weather events, and will use the record solar storms of October and November 2003 to focus the presentations and provide data to project future vulnerabilities. The inclusion of historic events and intervals will be important to capture the breadth of space weather impacts, which can be different from event to event, and impacts that occur during non-storm times. There will also be sessions on how space weather impacts might change as technologies evolve and new technologies appear.
Approximately 40 invited attendees, along with interested participants, will convene for a one-and-a-half-day public workshop in Washington, DC. Speakers will be drawn from a broad cross section of those interested or directly affected by severe space weather events, including government agencies and industry. The workshop is free and open to interested participants from the government, academia, and industry, as well as to the general public. The workshop will provide an initial forum for gathering information on specific space weather effects, as well as the status and unmet challenges of forecasting.
A report of the workshop, which will summarize workshop proceedings, will be prepared by the organizing committee. The workshop is intended to explore questions for consideration in a possible follow-on study that will examine these issues in greater depth.
View workshop organizing committee roster here.
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Links to Related Activities
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Workshop Organizing Committee
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Daniel N. Baker, chair
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado-Boulder
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Paul M. Kintner
Cornell University
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Roberta Balstad
Center for International Earth Sciences Information Network
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Louis G. Leffler
North American Electric Reliability Council
[Retired]
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J. Michael Bodeau
Northrop Grumman Space Technology
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William S. Lewis
Southwest Research Institute
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Eugene Cameron
United Airlines, Inc.
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Joseph B. Reagan (NAE)
Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc.
[Retired]
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Joseph F. Fennell
The Aerospace Corporation
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Arthur A. Small
Pennsylvania State University
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Genene M. Fisher
American Meteorological Society
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Thomas A. Stansell
Stansell Consulting
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Kevin F. Forbes
Catholic University of America
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Leonard Strachan, Jr.
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
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Staff
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Sandra Graham
Study Director
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Victoria Swisher
Research Associate
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Theresa Fisher
Program Associate
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