Advancing Space Weather Science and Its Use Through Policy Research

American Meteorological Society, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

The investigators will conduct research to expand the benefits from scientific advances in space weather and shorten the time required to realize these benefits. This study will develop policy analyses that will build the capacity of space weather scientists and policy makers to improve decision making regarding present and future technologies impacted by space weather. Specifically, this project will: (1) identify and analyze current and future policy issues within the space weather field; (2) identify and analyze past milestones in each of the following three areas and how they relate to each other: emergence of technological systems, progress of our understanding of space weather, and societal and policy issues with respect to space weather; (3) integrate these research results into the ongoing American Meteorological Society (AMS) development of university policy curricula and case studies; and (4) develop an AMS policy research program in collaboration with universities that allows students to conduct independent research and learn about policy research methods. There is a growing consensus that suggests practical benefits of research would be more rapid if the goals of scientific advance and application were more integrated. The investigators will treat them as an integrated, inseparable, and holistic activity. This breaks new ground in coupling physical science and social science/policy, thereby changing the manner in which both are conducted. The research project will advance understanding of space weather policy issues and build the capacity of the next generation of space weather scientists to support decision-makers confronting increasingly complex scientific and technical policy issues. This will be accomplished by developing the needed policy research and educating space weather students to become knowledgeable and effective in the policy process. This will accelerate the progress in the science as well as its application. Additionally, this work will significantly increase the number of people who understand both space weather and the associated policy issues. Policy research coupled with an understanding of the process by which benefits are derived from science advance can greatly accelerate the realization of benefits. The success of this in space weather can foster similar acceleration in related fields since the field represents a microcosm of the policy issues confronting the Earth system science community more broadly: e.g., data sharing, the need for substantial R&D, communicating warnings to users, the mixed public-private dimensions of forecasts and information. The research component will lead to a better understanding of the social, policy, and economic aspects of space weather and enable scientists to facilitate application of their research progress into societal benefit. The research will also provide information for policy formulation. The results can assist industries in becoming more aware of what space weather information can provide and how it can mitigate risks and improve the safety and efficiency of their operations. By integrating these results into the ongoing educational effort at AMS, it will allow the next generation of scientists to be more effective in communicating with policy makers and communicating the benefits of science to the public. Overall, this work will increase societal awareness of space weather and justify the needed national attention.