Prediction of Adverse effects of Geomagnetic Storms and Energetic Radiation

Project Information

PAGER

Grant agreement ID: 870452

DOI

10.3030/870452

Project closed

EC signature date 11 November 2019

Start date 1 January 2020

End date 30 June 2023

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Space

Total cost

€ 2 352 801,25

EU contribution

€ 2 352 801,25

Coordinated by

GFZ HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR GEOFORSCHUNG
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PAGER (Prediction of Adverse effects of Geomagnetic Storms and Energetic Radiation)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2023-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Space weather is a collective term used to describe hazardous events in the near-Earth space environment that can impact humans and technology in space, including satellites and terrestrial power grids. The Sun emits a continuous stream of plasma called the solar wind, and periodically releases billions of tons of matter in what are called coronal mass ejections. These immense clouds of material, can cause large magnetic storms in the near-Earth space environment. The PAGER project will provide space weather predictions that will be initiated from observations on the Sun and will predict radiation in space and its effects on satellite infrastructure. Real-time predictions and a historical record of the dynamics of the cold plasma density and ring current will allow for the evaluation of surface charging, and predictions of the relativistic electron fluxes will allow for the evaluation of deep dielectric charging. We will provide a 1-2-day probabilistic forecast of ring current and radiation belt environments, which will allow satellite operators to respond to predictions that present a significant threat. As a backbone of the project, we will use the most advanced codes that currently exist, codes outside of Europe have been transferred to operation in Europe, such as components of the state-of-the-art Space Weather Modelling Framework (SWMF). We will perform ensemble simulations and uncertainty quantifications. The project uses a number of innovative tools such as data assimilation and uncertainty quantification, new models of near-Earth electromagnetic wave environment, ensemble predictions of solar wind parameters at L1, and data-driven forecast of the geomagnetic Kp index and plasma density. Our codes may be used in the future for realistic modelling of extreme space weather events. We have reached out to scientific, industry and government stakeholders and will tailor our products to the stakeholder’s needs and requirements.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Our team developed alternative models for predicting wind conditions at 21.5 solar radii, relating to ensemble predictions of the Solar Wind at L1. We have developed a baseline neural network model of the plasmasphere, with our model showing good performance in regard to training and validation of data. We introduced feature selection, with additional features derived from the solar wind parameters to reconstruct the dynamics of the plasmasphere and build a new neural network model. Additionally, we have trained a neural network for predicting the Kp index and a forecast of the Kp index can be found on the PAGER website. We developed empirical models of the electromagnetic wave environment, by consolidating spacecraft databases of 3D measurements of fluctuating electromagnetic fields. We used data sets from various European and United States satellite missions. Installation of the Space Weather Modelling Framework (SWMF) geospace configuration has been installed, tested and is up and running at GFZ. We further optimized the codes for PAGER. The real-time data-assimilative version of the VERB code has been installed on the PAGER computing server at GFZ. Scripts have been adopted to couple the VERB code with the results of other PAGER projects. Particle data from the Van Allen Probes and ARASE have been collected and processed, as well as the development of a prototype of the codes for computing fluxes along a satellite orbit. A data assimilative forecast of the near-Earth radiation belts and electron ring current forecast can be found on the PAGER website. Investigations and testing of relevant simplified charging cases have also been conducted. Primary codes were installed and executed and the combination of codes from all work packages is being run at GFZ servers. The latest news, publications, presentations, and data products are available on the PAGER website.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The final software toolset allows space weather predictions ~1-2 days into the future with real confidence levels as required by project stakeholders. Novel new products released from this work are physics-improved coronal models, both coupled in a predictive software package with realistic confidence levels. These tools can be used in the future for the prediction of the impact of space weather on power grids and pipelines. This includes estimating the danger to power grids and estimating the SIR-drag on satellites. By using probabilistic predictions, driven by solar input, we significantly advance the lead time, accuracy and confidence for predictions. Additionally, the ensemble predictions are also being used for future estimation of risks of GIC and of satellite orbit tracing. This project further investigates plasma density, which is important for evaluating surface charging, as well as for scientific applications, as it controls the growth of waves and how waves interact with particles. Plasma density is also important for GPS /GNSS navigation systems. Using probabilistic predictions from our models, we are able to forecast the global cold plasma dynamics several days ahead, and also to estimate uncertainties in plasma density associated with errors in solar wind parameters. We are aiming to significantly contribute to advances in the empirical modelling of the electromagnetic environment of the Earth, allowing fast implementation and rapid calculation of the effects of quasi-linear diffusion caused by wave-particle interactions in the near-Earth environment. This project leads to an improved understanding of the electromagnetic environment and spatial structures of the Earth’s magnetosphere during various solar activity conditions. Installation of these tools in Europe will be important for future scientific and space-weather research developments in Europe. The same tools can be used in the future for the prediction of the impact of space weather on power grids and pipelines. Additionally, we apply codes for forecasting of the radiation belt and ring current electron dynamics. This provides a definitive and probabilistic forecast of electron fluxes several days into the future. We developed a new tool that allows forecasting of electron fluences along an arbitrary satellite orbit for further estimation of the deep dielectric and surface charging of satellites. Work on this project is done in close collaboration with stakeholders, obtaining valuable feedback to make the results from this project particularly valid, in a broader context. Estimates derived from our results allow the identification of the most vulnerable members of a satellite fleet and help designers and operators to develop mitigation strategies against radiation damage, as well as predict the likelihood of anomalies or failures. This project provides the most accurate-to-date forecast of surface charging and deep dielectric charging. The proposed framework allows us to increase the lead-time significantly, providing confidence levels that are needed to estimate risks and make decisions on mitigating actions.

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