. | . |
Report Highlights Social and Economic Impacts of Space Weather by Staff Writers Silver Spring, MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2017
Some experts in the emergency management community believe that the first "trillion-dollar storm" won't come in the form of a tornado, hurricane, or flood, but rather will come from the sun. A new report funded by NOAA's National Weather Service begins to quantify impacts from space weather on the United States economy. Space weather broadly refers to time-variable conditions in the near-Earth space environment including the sun, solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. It represents a natural hazard that is known to interrupt and damage technologies critical to modern society such as electric power grids, airlines, trains, pipelines, and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) [National Research Council, 2008; Baker and Lanzerotti, 2016]. This 2017 report on the "Social and Economic Impacts of Space Weather in the United States" was commissioned in response to the 2015 National Space Weather Strategy and the 2015 National Space Weather Action Plan, calling for the Department of Commerce to support research into the social and economic impacts of space-weather effects. The report describes studies of the impacts of space weather on four segments of the economy: satellites and satellite communications, electric power distribution, the airline industry, and users of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (e.g., precision agriculture, construction, surveying, transportation --including air, rail, maritime, and road - timing, and consumer location-based services). The study considers five broad classes of impacts: defensive investments and mitigating actions taken before or during a space weather event and the asset damages, service interruptions, and human health impacts that result from an event. Two storm magnitudes were considered: moderate storms (to identify thresholds above which notable impacts are expected) and an extreme event (to identify the upper limits of damages). Significant achievements of this study include: + Developing an analytical framework for assessing impacts that spans from heliophysics to engineering and economics + Identifying data requirements, sources, and gaps that can inform future research efforts + Providing an approach for systematic analysis of the tradeoffs between defensive investments/mitigating actions on the one hand and asset damages, service interruptions, and human health impacts on the other + Providing a basis for consistency in future research efforts that build on the analytical framework developed for this study. To learn more about NOAA's space weather suite of products and services, visit here To learn more how you and your business or community can prepare for solar storms, visit here.
New Orleans LA (SPX) Dec 14, 2017 It's not often geology and national security wind up in the same sentence. Most people don't think about electrical power in connection to either the ground under their feet or solar flares overhead, but Dr. Adam Schultz of Oregon State University, and EarthScope Magnetotelluric Program Lead Scientist, says that connection presents a clear and present risk that power utilities need to consider ... read more Related Links National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Solar Science News at SpaceDaily
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |