ISWAT - International Space Weather Action Teams 

Within the space weather community, prototype services frequently operate as capability demonstrators and a full verification of their ability to reproduce/predict elements of the space environment under a range of space weather conditions, from the moderate to the extreme, has yet to be completed. In addition, as new modeling capabilities emerge, information on the operational use case for a given model can provide valuable information to the developer, facilitating transition from the research domain into operations at a later stage.
Underpinning model accuracy is being addressed by numerous international activities, but as yet a community-wide consensus on how to address accuracy and suitability for transition into operations for the wide range of models and domains involved has not been reached.

This event builds on the successful related event held during the 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. It encourages dialogue between modellers, application developers and service providers in order to review current model and service validation activities, to build upon successes, to identify challenges, and to develop a strategy, supported by actions, for continuous assessment of space weather predictive capabilities as recommended in the COSPAR Space Weather Roadmap. Presentations from International Space Weather Action Teams focusing on capability assessments are encouraged as are all presentations addressing both coordinated validation frameworks and individual case studies.
This event will also include a discussion panel focussing on techniques to characterise progress towards operational readiness and on enabling feedback from operations to the research domain.

MSO: Alexi Glover, ESA/ESOC, Germany, alexi.glover@esa.in

DO: Masha Kuznetsova, NASA/GSFC, maria.m.kuznetsova@nasa.gov

SOC: Vladimir Kalegaev (MSU, Russia), Mike Terkildsen (BOM, Australia), Piers Jiggens (ESA, Netherlands), Suzy Bingham (Met Office, UK), Stefaan Poedts (K U Leuven, Belgium), Joe Minow (NASA, USA), Clezio De Nardin (INPE, Brazil), Terry Onsager (NOAA, USA)

Space Weather effects are significant throughout the solar system and the ability to predict and design around them is essential for planetary exploration.

We welcome descriptions of measurements of space weather effects made in planetary environments or interplanetary space, as well as models, comparisons and methods for improved prediction.

We will also explore the way that the space weather environment at other solar system bodies modifies the design criteria for instruments and missions.

We particularly welcome presentations which consider the topic of planetary space weather in the context of the recent COSPAR space weather roadmap.

MSO: Manuel Grande, Aberystwyth University, m.grande@aber.ac.uk

DO: Reka Winslow, University of New Hampshire, reka.winslow@unh.edu

Discussion of ionospheric indices having a high potential to fulfill user requirements in particular in safety of life (SoL) and precise positioning applications shall be continued in a more concretized form than we could do at the 42nd COSPAR assembly.  Initiated studies shall be reviewed and conclusions shall be drawn which indices are considered as potentially applicable for selected use cases. In order to judge the suitability, specification of user needs for various applications are required from customers. Therefore, intensification of the dialog between ionospheric scientists and customers is encouraged. Best practice experience obtained in weather/ionospheric weather services should be presented. Being aware that forecasts of the expected behavior of indices used by customers require intensive scientific research in the context of overall space weather processes, related scientific work should be discussed to enable or further improve forecasting of ionospheric indices. Therefore, contributions from SW experts covering all other fields of space weather are encouraged. Progress on the development of an Ionospheric Scale related to the indices is also encouraged.

MSO: Norbert Jakowski, Germany, norbert.jakowski@dlr.de

DO: Tim Fuller-Rowell, University of Colorado, tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov

SOC: Kirco Arsov (Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Australia), Clezio Marcos De Nardin (National Institute for Space Research, Brazil), Alexi Glover (European Space Agency, Germany), Mamoru Ishii (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan), Robert Steenburgh (Space Weather Prediction Center, USA

The space weather community has entered the era of big data for almost a decade now. Research analysis and modelling efforts to understand and forecast the space weather impact of solar eruptive events rely largely on the preservation, accessibility and usability of diverse heliophysics and space weather data products (space-based and ground-based). The growing data complexity and volume imply the need for a coherent information architecture that uses data standards to support data and information flows effectively. The growing user diversity also requires that data to be readily and independently usable. Standards for data models, metadata and data access protocols can enhance data distribution and support data mining and data-model comparison. Several standards are already in use in the heliophysics and space weather community, e.g. Space Physics Archive Search And Extract (SPASE), Heliophysics API (HAPI), Common Data Format (CDF) or the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). In fact, both SPASE and HAPI are now the standards for metadata and access protocol recommended by the COSPAR Panel of Space Weather (see https://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/psw/). The use of different standards raises further issues about interoperability and compatibility.

For this session, we invite submissions describing current or planned usage of data model standards from space weather or more generally heliophysics data providers. We also welcome contributions on standardised data access and exchange and analysis tools that will also enable international coordination and collaboration. Applications of these tools in supporting diverse user communities, data-model comparison, data mining and machine learning are strongly encouraged

MSO: Arnaud Masson, ESA, arnaud.masson@esa.int

DO: Shing Fung
NASA/GSFC, shing.f.fung@nasa.gov

SOC: Daniel Heynderickx (DH consultancy, Belgium), Ray Walker (UCLA, USA), Yoshizumi Miyoshi (Nagoya University, Japan), Alexi Glover (ESA, ESOC, Germany), Masha Kuznetsova (NASA, USA) Jean-Christophe Malapert (CNES, France), Terry Onsager (NOAA, USA), Keil Ralf (ESA, ESOC, Germany)

Modern society has become increasingly dependent on complex technological environment that is highly susceptible to space weather effects caused by the temperamental nature of our dynamic Sun. Understanding and predicting space weather and its impact on society is acknowledged as a global challenge.  To address the need to join forces and to maximize return on investments the  COSPAR Panel on Space Weather coordinates an active  network of International  Space Weather Action Teams (ISWAT). An action team choses to address a specific focused task, thus providing a building block of the ISWAT initiative. Action teams are organized into clusters grouped by domain, phenomena or impact and work in coordinated effort to improve resilience to space weather. The initiative is building upon established efforts, engages existing international groups and facilitates emergence of new teams and ideas. We solicit contributions from teams focused on different aspects of space weather including advancing understanding, collecting user requirements, assessment and improvement of predictive capabilities, utilization of available observations, transition of research ideas to applications, and inputs for future missions planning. We welcome submissions from ISWAT teams as well as from teams that are interested to join the ISWAT. We particularly encourage submission on space weather community-wide initiatives and campaigns and invite discussions on community coordination in space weather and approach to Global Space Weather Roadmap updates.

MSO: Masha Kuznesova,  maria.m.kuznetsova@nasa.gov

DO: Mario M. Bisi
, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
RAL Space
Science & Technology Facilities Council, mario.bisi@stfc.ac.uk

SOC:

Hermann Opgenoorth (Umea University, Sweden), Ian Mann (University of Alberta, Canada), Manuela Temmer (University of Graz, Austria), Bruinsma Sean (CNES, France), Anna Belehaki (NOA, Greece), Alexi Glover (ESA, Germany), Sophie Murray (Trinity College Dublin, Irland), Daniel Heynderickx (DH consultancy, Belgium), Jon Linker (Predictive Science Inc. , USA), Manuel Grande (Aberystwyth University), Sharafat Gadimova (UNOOSA), Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber (University of Kiel, Germany)

Space weather is and will remain a challenge to space and planetary sustainability and will become increasingly important to deal with in the future – as we become more reliant on technologies that are susceptible to our variable space environment. Recognizing the need to understand the solar origin of space weather, characterize its impacts on space- and ground-based technologies and human space-flight programs, and develop reliable forecasting services for end-users, COSPAR commissioned an international space weather roadmap study for 2015 – 2025 (Advances in Space Research, 2015: DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2015.03.023). Under the coordination of the COSPAR Panel in Space Weather (PSW), the Roadmap is now in the process of being updated.  Ensuring that future updates to the roadmap appropriately reflect user needs are critical to this process. This event will consist of invited discourses and panel discussions focussing on the needs of the users of space weather services. It offers a forum for interactions between scientists and the user community with a view to facilitating improved space weather services, underpinned by appropriate observational and modeling capabilities and their transition from research to operations. The goal is to create an information-sharing environment that brings together international scientific, engineering and operational communities, and impacted societal groups and users, towards the goal of an improved global resiliency against the adverse impacts of space weather.

MSO: Ian Mann
, University of Alberta,Canada imann@ualberta.ca

DO: Hermann Opgenoorth, Sweden

SOC: Richard Marshall (Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Australia) Masha Kuznetsova (Goddard Space Flight Center, USA)

This session will focus on global coordination in space weather education and capacity building. Solicited speakers will highlight currently ongoing space weather capacity building activities by their respective organizations. This will be followed by a round-table discussion on strategies for coordination and collaboration among various organizations and space agencies in delivering integrated space weather education through workshops and schools around the world. Leveraging of both expertise and finances for such activities would be discussed among the stakeholders. Individual submissions highlighting space weather education and outreach efforts from around the world are encouraged; these will be scheduled as a poster session and will be highlighted through a flash-poster summary during the oral session.

This session is organized under the aegis of the International Space Weather Action Teams (ISWAT) initiative of the COSPAR Panel on Space Weather.

https://iswat-cospar.org

MSO: Dibyendu Nandi
Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India, IISER Kolkata
Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI)
IISER Kolkata, dnandi@iiserkol.ac.in

DO: Alexi Glover
European Space Agency
ESA/ESOC
Robert Bosch Strasse 5
D-64293 Darmstadt
Germany
Tel: 496151902262
E-Mail: alexi.glover@esa.int


DO: 
Nat Gopalswamy
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 671, nat.gopalswamy@nasa.gov

SOC: Hermann Opgenoorth (Uppsala University, Sweden) Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber (University of Kiel, Germany)