A new international advisory system is working to keep aircraft crew and passengers safe from space weather impacts, thanks in part to the efforts of a team of CIRES and NOAA developers, forecasters, and scientists in Boulder, Colorado.
“Thunderstorms or snow can disrupt flights. What we call ‘space weather’ can be disruptive, too,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist and forecaster in NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). So when the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization solicited interest from space weather centers around the globe to create a new advisory system for aviation, SWPC offered to help, on behalf of the United States.
“Space weather” generally refers to the changing conditions in space and in the Earth’s atmosphere that result from activity originating on the Sun. Solar “winds” can ebb and flow, buffeting Earth’s magnetic field, and when a coronal mass ejection (CME) passes by Earth, it can seriously shake up that magnetic field. Such “space weather” can temporarily disrupt navigation and communications systems and can even increase radiation levels in the atmosphere.
And—much as with a blizzard or looming thunderstorm—airlines can take action, changing an aircraft’s flight path to avoid or lessen impacts, said CIRES solar physicist Hazel Bain, who worked on the project for the last year. A moderate radiation advisory, for example, might motivate airlines to divert planes from the polar regions, she said, since flights over the poles are more exposed to radiation than flights at lower latitudes. CIRES is a partnership of NOAA and the University of Colorado Boulder.
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