AMS Short Course on Space Weather
Sunday, 6 January 2013
The rapid advances in the technology sector and our fast growing dependency on space-based systems have resulted in an ever-increasing vulnerability to space weather. Aviation, electric power grid operations, satellite communications, and GPS applications are all sensitive to severe space weather. Concerns have grown as these technologies have become more ingrained in everyday life. Additionally, interest has grown in the general public with the recognition of the electric power grid vulnerability and the potentially significant consequences of an extreme geomagnetic storm. As space weather becomes more and more widely recognized by the general public, meteorologists are frequently the “first line of defense” for the public, so the need has grown for them to understand and communicate these multi-faceted threats.
The goal of the course is to provide sufficient background information on space weather to enable a basic understanding of a space weather event in terms of how it is detected, how is it forecast, and finally, what the impacts are to modern society and the near-Earth environment. The course is aimed at students, developing meteorologists, broadcast meteorologists, and others who desire an understanding of space weather and its associated impacts in order to better communicate space weather information to their audience.
The course format consists of one-half day of lectures and interactive discussion with panel members (afternoon session).
This course is co-sponsored by UCAR, NASA, NSF and the American Commercial Space Weather Association (ACSWA) with participation from Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA), Carmel Research Center (CRC), Computational Physics, Inc (CPI), Predictive Science, Inc (PSI), Space Environment Corporation (SEC), and Space Environment Technologies (SET).
Registration is limited to 40 students.
Pre-registered AMS student members may be eligible for a course fee waiver (funds are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis). Students should send a statement of interest along with an advisor's statement of support to robert.rutledge@noaa.gov. This course fee waiver is made possible by generous contributions from the American Commercial Space Weather Association (ACSWA - http://www.acswa.us) with participation from Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA), Carmel Research Center (CRC), Computational Physics, Inc (CPI), Predictive Science, Inc (PSI), Space Environment Corporation (SEC), and Space Environment Technologies (SET).
The organizers for the course are: Dr. Thomas J. Bogdan, President, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research; Dr. O. C. St Cyr, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center; Bob Rutledge, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center; and Lt Col Chris Smithtro, USAF, Air Force Weather Agency. Computers, laptops or internet access will not be available or required for this course.
For more information please contact Bob Rutledge at NOAA/NWS/SWPC, 325 Broadway W/NP9, DSRC-Room 1C106, Boulder, CO 80305 (tel: 303-497-3029; email: robert.rutledge@noaa.gov).