From EOS, Vol. 93, No. 25, 19 June 2012
White House and Agencies Focus on Space Weather Concerns
“Space weather is a serious matter that can affect human economies around the world,” Tamara Dickinson, a senior policy analyst with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), told attendees at the 2012 Space Weather Enterprise Forum, held 5 June in Washington, D. C. With the 2013 solar maximum nearing, researchers and government agencies are focusing on how the greater solar activity could affect our increasingly technological society and what measures can be taken to help prevent or mitigate any threats to the electricity grid, GPS, and other potentially vulnerable technologies.
Dickenson said that there has been an increased awareness about space weather in the White House and that President Barack Obama recently has requested briefing memos on the topic. She highlighted several efforts the administration is taking related to space weather, including a forthcoming national Earth observation strategy, which could be released in July and will include an assessment of space weather. She explained that the strategy document will be part of the fiscal year 2014 presidential budget request and that it will be updated every 3 years.
Dickinson added that the administration also is acting on earlier federal interagency recommendations to ready the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission for launch in 2014 as a near-term risk reduction measure to provide space weather data; there is concern about the continued healthy operation of the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), which has gone well beyond its expected mission life.
Earlier this year, Obama directed OSTP and the national security staff “to aggressively move forward with space weather mitigation efforts,” Dickinson said. Based on the president’s direction, she restructured OSTP’s Geomagnetic Interagency Working Group. “We are focusing on achievable, strategic implementation actions, at least initially focused on the [electricity] grid,” she said. Dickinson noted that she has included additional federal agencies in the working group. However, she also said that OSTP itself now has only one staff member working on space weather. With the departure of two OSTP staff in March, “it was determined that OSTP should consolidate all the space weather activities under one person,” she said.
Full story here
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
It looks like Obama is looking for a diversion from adverse predictions of energy reliability boards. It wasn’t the closed coal power plants, it was the Sun, (or may Bush).
Who cares about our taxes at the sun?
A laudable effort, I’m sure with enough tax revenue, more committees can be formed to revue the efforts of the previous committee….. (sarc on)
Isn’t the tem “Space Weather” an oxymoron?
That aside the potential damage from solar radiation to countries dependent upon computers is huge. I have all of our valuable electronic equipment (computers, home cinema etc) connected to mains electricity via surge suppressors to prevent damage. A few years ago during the bad old days of dial up internet, there was a thunderstorm and lightning strike nearby. The one computer we had then, survived due to the surge suppressor but the internal modem connected to the telephone line was fried. Fortunately the cost was just a few pounds and 5 minutes work. With a solar storm, half the planet would be affected, the costs would be enormous. I think President Obama is wise to look into this.
What next to worry about?
While watching an almost fully automated Miller/Coors Brewery in Albany, GA in action one couldn’t help but notice the lack of working people. Personally, I wish for something to melt the vulnerable technologies causing them to be abandoned and put PEOPLE back to work.
Here is what is a link to what is helping put 16% of our workforce out of action. http://www.egeminusa.com/
I suppose that if space weather exists, then its longterm partner must be space climate? Is Tamara Dickinson a space climate change warmist or realist?
Only slightly less poignant, Frank Saunders, chief forecaster at the Met Office has been talking to Sarah Rainey of the Telegraph. He is quoted thus: “I’m assessing the risks and putting the picture into words people can understand.The computer* is good but it has limitations – my job is to add human interpretation.”
*Met Office’s “supercomputers”, which use equations to forecast the weather at a rate of 125 trillion calculations a second.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9334057/Whats-the-outlook-inside-the-Met-Office.html
Last words from Rob Varley, operations and services director: “It’s a rotten June, absolutely rotten. Sadly, there’s nothing we can do about it – we hate it just as much as you do. When I hear people grumbling about the weather, I want to shout at them: ‘You live in Britain, what on earth did you expect?’”.
Not a ‘staff of one’ for much longer I suspect. With all that computing power to hand I have no doubt The Met Office could probably lend a hand if asked nicely.
Duncan B (UK)
“White House and Agencies Focus on Space Weather Concerns”
So they should, solar magnetic cycle is probably the most important variable in the global climate events.
Any hope that in passing somebody might notice Svensmark/Cern/Cloud experriment/particles/cooling and come to the correct conclusion about the billions wasted on CAGW?
Clever move by NASA.
More people are coming to understand that sunspots are the main cause of climate trends, We can’t have that, can we? If we can associate DANGER with sunspots, it will be easier to demonize real scientists who want to focus on the ordinary effects of sunspots.
…what measures can be taken to help prevent or mitigate any threats to the electricity grid, GPS, and other potentially vulnerable technologies.
The GPS constellation has survived pretty well, so far. The shelf-life for the Block IIR series (the last group launched) expires this coming August, though…
Hmmm. One wonders if, after a few years, they and the IPCC suddenly ‘discover’ that the sun really DOES have a major effect on climate? They need an Out from their failed hypothosis of ‘man-made’ global warming, after all…
And of course, all those Skeptics who pointed to such things for decades, will Still be Wrong.
I thought the greatest threat to the US supply grid was the EPA shutting down power stations on spurious grounds.
Space Situational Awareness is a real effort with serious concerns. Space weather (e.g., solar events that can effect Earth or human systems) can have produce power outages, loss communications, lost space assets or harm the people on the Space Station.
Interestingly enough, the Earth-Sun connection is an area of investigation that will likely bring down the theories of CO2 driven global climate, and humanity’s role in warming.
ESA has taken the lead on this by doing the obvious – integrating data from satellite, balloon an ground based programs to provide a clearer picture of natural threats from space (as opposed to the alien form of threats:
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/SSA/index.html
Given the potential impact to lives from severe solar events, this is a laudable goal. Especially if it provides opportunities to study the link between Sun and the Earth’s climate.
A scapegoat is needed to fill the political void as our electricity supply dwindles and becomes no longer steady or reliable.
Obama could do no better than to have Dr Leif Svensmark’s hypothesis explained to him also:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/24/svensmarks-cosmic-jackpot-evidence-of-nearby-supernovae-affecting-life-on-earth/
Timely post coinciding with the Thirteenth International Solar Wind Conference organized by the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Center of Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, under the direction of Dr’s Gary P Zank and Jim Spann. The meeting itself will take place at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay on the Big Island, Hawaii, USA, from 18-22 June 2012.
http://www.sw13.org/
If a Carrington Event took out the high voltage transformers, the USA could rapidly descend back to a third world nation. Why are we not spending the billions on preparing to survive a direct Coronal Mass Ejection event rather than fretting over a few inches rise in sea level?
“One person” does not sound like much of a “commitment”!
mfo says:
June 16, 2012 at 4:26 am
Obama could do no better than to have Dr Leif Svensmark’s hypothesis
Henrik Svensmark
Obama is only interested if he can squeeze some campaign money from someone or some votes.
Understanding the phenomena is way beyond his capabilities.
I give it eight to ten weeks before the first peer reviewed paper in ‘Nature’ revealing how research has proven that human factors effect ‘space weather’ – with graphs and everything!
James Bull says:
June 16, 2012 at 3:19 am
I thought the greatest threat to the US supply grid was the EPA shutting down power stations on spurious grounds.
=====================================================================
Ding! Ding! Ding! Give the man a ceee-gar!
I would be careful about this one. My lack of trust in the past several administrations has come to a crescendo in this one. This could easily transform into regulations that you have smart meters, power rationing, and all the rest of the “green” agenda. While it is important that we have a robust power infrastructure, I suspect that this is but another foot in the door to open it for other political ends.
Leif Svalgaard says:
June 16, 2012 at 5:13 am
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thanks Leif. Another mixup. Apologies again.