Space weather is a complex of changing conditions in near-Earth space, from the surface of the Sun to the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. Similar to atmospheric weather forecasts, its monitoring is critical to science and infrastructure. Solar flares, coronal holes and geomagnetic storms affect telecommunications, aviation and energy networks, and may also have significant economic consequences.
NOAA monitors space weather using satellites, sensors and optical instruments. Data from these sources are collected and analyzed by the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) and the Center for Space Weather Forecasting (SWPC), which allows you to predict events and issue warnings.
The NOAA Space Weather Portal has recently been launched (SPOT) — a cloud web portal for access, processing and visualization of space weather satellite data. In the first stage, data from the Compact Coronagraph instrument are available in SPOT 1 (CCOR-1) on board the GOES-19 satellite, part of the NOAA Space Weather Follow On program (SWFO). Eventually, SPOT will replace legacy web interfaces and file repositories, providing centralized and modern access to arrays of data.
SPOT capabilities
The portal was created taking into account the needs of scientists and practical users:
- interactive visualization and data analysis;
- uploading data in standard formats (CSV, JSON);
- search and open access to datasets by key parameters;
- comparing multiple data sets within a single graph.
SPOT is part of NOAA's cloud portal strategy based on the NESDIS Common Cloud Framework, that expand public access to the agency's environmental data. Similar portals are being developed for other areas, including forest fire monitoring.
They worked together on SPOT: NCEI (National Center for Environmental Information), SWO (Office of Space Weather Observations – satellite operating systems) та OCS (Shared Services Office – cloud infrastructure).
Value for users and science
SPOT provides structured access to real-time satellite data, allowing scientists to perform programmatic analysis, track data processing and generate scientific artifacts. This speeds up the delivery of space weather forecasts and reduces risks to critical infrastructure and business. The portal supports scientific research and operational decision-making, which is especially important in conditions of potentially destructive cosmic phenomena.
Source: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov