Difference between revisions of "AFFECTS - Advanced Forecast For Ensuring Communications Through Space"

From AFFECTS Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(AFFECTS Space Weather Reports)
 
(44 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
  
 +
AFFECTS is a space research project funded under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (Grant Agreement N° 263506).<br />
 +
This wiki has been installed as a communication and work tool for project partners only.<br />
 +
All publicly available information concerning the project and its progress can be viewed on the project website www.affects-fp7.eu.<br />
 +
<br />
  
== '''AFFECTS - Advanced Forecast For Ensuring Communications Through Space''' ==
 
  
 +
'''Note for project partners: <br />
 +
'''The regular reporting is handled on this page:  [[AFFECTS Reporting]]''' <br />
 +
<br />
 +
<br />
  
is a space research project under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union.
+
== '''Project Description''' ==
 +
Solar storms are a consequence of sudden eruptions of magnetised gas in the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Commonly such storms start with a sudden release of electromagnetic radiation lasting for some minutes (a solar flare) and by an eruption of a giant cloud of magnetised plasma – a coronal mass ejection (CME), accompanied with beams of very energetic particles emitted into space. The fastest of these “space hurricanes” are accelerated to speeds of ten million kilometres per hour and, if heading in the direction of Earth, reach our home planet, at a distance of 150 million km, in less than a day.  
  
 +
Solar storms affect the Earth environment from the magnetosphere down to the ionosphere, and even to the lower atmosphere climate system. The natural hazards of severe space weather have the potential to catastrophically disrupt the operations of technological systems, such as communication systems and power grids on Earth. The next period of strongest solar activity in the eleven-year solar cycle of the sun – a so called solar activity maximum – will occur after 2012, raising the risks of extreme space weather events. Through the AFFECTS (Advanced Forecast For Ensuring Communications Through Space) project funded by the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme, European and US scientists develop an advanced prototype space weather warning system to safeguard the operation of telecommunication and navigation systems on Earth to the threat of solar storms.
  
'''Project Description:'''
+
The AFFECTS project is led by the University of Göttingen’s Institute for Astrophysics and comprises world-wide leading research and academic institutions and industrial enterprises from Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, Norway and the United States. The Planetarium Hamburg is the project’s educational and public outreach center.
 
+
<br />
In this call the EU supports activities strengthening space foundations reducing the vulnerability of space assets from space weather events. Solar activity affects the entire Earth environment from the magnetosphere down to the ionosphere and even to the lower atmosphere climate system. The natural hazards of space weather do not only modify the atmosphere but also can catastrophically disrupt the operations of many technological systems, thus causing disruption to people's lives and jobs. The AFFECTS collaborative project uniquely addresses these key topics through state of the art analysis and modelling of the Sun-Earth Chain of Effects on the Earth's ionosphere and their subsequent impacts on communication systems.
+
<br />
 
 
Multipoint space observations enable world-leading experts at the highest level of interdisciplinary excellence to forecast the relevant space weather effects on the ionosphere quantitatively. The unique set of measurements from satellites in different orbits is complemented by dedicated ground-based monitoring of auroral electro-jet and iono-spheric activity.
 
 
 
The AFFECTS team consists of key European space weather research teams and the US Space Weather Prediction Center of NOAA. To date no dedicated space weather forecast system for iono-spheric applications exists in an operational manner, and thus this project would lead to an entirely new capability in Europe that is not only important for society but also does not exist elsewhere.
 
 
 
AFFECTS is an unprecedented project which in time of the expected next solar maximum around 2012 will provide advanced prediction, assessment and early warning capabilities of disruptive space weather events that are expected to be particularly poignant to society and thereby meets the needs of Europe's community of users. AFFECTS will provide Europe with the first advanced early warning and space weather forecast system to help European citizens mitigating the impact on its communication systems.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
'''AFFECTS will provide advanced early space weather warning to protect communication systems.
 
'''
 
  
 +
== '''Past News''' ==
 +
An archive with past news can be found here:
 +
[[AFFECTS Past News]]
 +
<br />
 +
<br />
  
 +
== '''AFFECTS Space Weather Reports''' ==
 +
Actual space weather reports can be found on the main AFFECTS website.
 +
Please follow this link: http://www.affects-fp7.eu/weather/
 +
<br />
 +
An archive with past space weather reports can be found here: [[AFFECTS Space Weather Reports]]
 +
<br />
 +
<br />
  
 +
== '''Acknowledgement''' ==
 
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement n° 263506.
 
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement n° 263506.

Latest revision as of 06:52, 17 September 2012

AFFECTS is a space research project funded under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (Grant Agreement N° 263506).
This wiki has been installed as a communication and work tool for project partners only.
All publicly available information concerning the project and its progress can be viewed on the project website www.affects-fp7.eu.


Note for project partners:
The regular reporting is handled on this page: AFFECTS Reporting


Project Description

Solar storms are a consequence of sudden eruptions of magnetised gas in the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Commonly such storms start with a sudden release of electromagnetic radiation lasting for some minutes (a solar flare) and by an eruption of a giant cloud of magnetised plasma – a coronal mass ejection (CME), accompanied with beams of very energetic particles emitted into space. The fastest of these “space hurricanes” are accelerated to speeds of ten million kilometres per hour and, if heading in the direction of Earth, reach our home planet, at a distance of 150 million km, in less than a day.

Solar storms affect the Earth environment from the magnetosphere down to the ionosphere, and even to the lower atmosphere climate system. The natural hazards of severe space weather have the potential to catastrophically disrupt the operations of technological systems, such as communication systems and power grids on Earth. The next period of strongest solar activity in the eleven-year solar cycle of the sun – a so called solar activity maximum – will occur after 2012, raising the risks of extreme space weather events. Through the AFFECTS (Advanced Forecast For Ensuring Communications Through Space) project funded by the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme, European and US scientists develop an advanced prototype space weather warning system to safeguard the operation of telecommunication and navigation systems on Earth to the threat of solar storms.

The AFFECTS project is led by the University of Göttingen’s Institute for Astrophysics and comprises world-wide leading research and academic institutions and industrial enterprises from Germany, Belgium, Ukraine, Norway and the United States. The Planetarium Hamburg is the project’s educational and public outreach center.

Past News

An archive with past news can be found here: AFFECTS Past News

AFFECTS Space Weather Reports

Actual space weather reports can be found on the main AFFECTS website. Please follow this link: http://www.affects-fp7.eu/weather/
An archive with past space weather reports can be found here: AFFECTS Space Weather Reports

Acknowledgement

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement n° 263506.