National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NOAA’s mission to better understand our natural world and help protect its precious resources extends beyond national borders to monitor global weather and climate, and work with partners around the world. For Space Weather, NOAA’s responsibilities are to: provide operational space weather monitoring, forecasting, and long-term data archiving and access for civil applications; maintain ground-based and space-based assets to provide observations needed for space weather forecasting, prediction, and warnings; provide research to support operational responsibilities, and develop requirements for space weather forecasting technologies and science.
NOAA provides decision makers and users with actionable information and tools they need to plan for, respond to, and mitigate the harmful impacts of space weather through: Observational data via the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) Office of Space Weather Observations (SWO), commercial data buys, and through partnerships for ground-based observations; Storm forecasting via the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC); Data management via the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
For SWO, our Space Weather Strategic Objective is to advance observational leadership in all applicable orbits (e.g., LEO, GEO, and extended orbits) consistent with the agency’s responsibilities within the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan. SWO manages two major efforts the Space Weather Follow On and Space Weather Next programs that are developing space-based missions and instruments for operational space weather observations.