WEATHERMONITORING 65
Space weather monitoring to get major upgrade in new research programme
The UK’s ability to predict solar superstorms and other severe space weather events is to get a significant upgrade with the launch of two major research projects led by the University of Birmingham.
The research is part of a £20M programme called SWIMMR (Space Weather Instrumentation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk), funded by UK Research and Innovation and designed to deliver improved monitoring capability to the UK’s Met Office. As part of this programme the University of Birmingham will lead a £3.7M effort in better understanding the Earth’s upper atmosphere (ionosphere and thermosphere).
Turbulent space weather, largely caused by radiation, energetic particles and plasma emitted by the Sun, can cause huge disruption on Earth. Whilst the Earth’s magnetosphere, a powerful magnetic field that surrounds the Earth in the upper atmosphere, protects us from day-to-day space weather, extreme events can overcome this planetary defence with potentially severe consequences. Risks include widespread and long lasting power cuts, disrupted satellite, GPS and radio communication technologies, and air passenger and astronaut safety.
Extreme space weather has been included in the Government’s National Risk Register – an overview of the key emergencies which could cause significant disruption in the UK – since its 2012 update. The likelihood is currently judged to be comparable to that of an emerging infectious disease.
The Birmingham-led consortium draws together the UK’s principal experts in upper atmosphere modelling from Lancaster University, the Universities of Bath, Leicester, Leeds and Southampton and the British Antarctic Survey.
Data modelling technology developed at the University of Birmingham will underpin the work. This technology is capable of predicting space weather with unprecedented speed and accuracy, monitoring the density, winds and temperatures of chemical species in the Earth’s atmosphere and triggering warnings when there are likely to be impacts on services and infrastructure.
The first project will explore ways to deliver effective monitoring of the ionosphere, the charged part of the Earth’s upper atmosphere. This region can disrupt communication with aircraft and render GPS positioning systems inoperable. The second project will investigate the thermosphere, the neutral part of the Earth’s upper atmosphere, which affects the orbits of satellites which, without suitable modelling, can result in satellite collisions. By the end of the grant the developed models will be deployed operationally at the UK Met Office.
Dr Sean Elvidge, in the School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham, says: “The expertise we’ve developed here at Birmingham puts us in a great position to make a really significant contribution to the UK’s space weather forecasting capabilities. Only by providing sufficient advance warning, and having robust plans in place for reacting to an extreme event, can we be confident of minimising disruption – and possibly averting disaster.”
The most extreme space weather event on record occurred in 1859, when a huge solar flare and associated major coronal mass ejection reached the Earth. This affected telegraph systems around the world, giving operators electric shocks and, in some cases allowing telegraph operators to continue sending and receiving messages despite the power supplies having been cut. The northern lights, the attractive consequence of space weather, was seen as far south as the Caribbean.
“This level of extreme event tends to occur every 100 years or so,” says Dr Elvidge. “While it’s not possible to be overdue an event of this nature, it is likely that one will occur sometime before the end of this century.”
Simon Machin, Space Weather Programme Manager at the Met Office, said: “The SWIMMR Programme will be fundamental in bridging the gap between UK academic excellence in a variety of space weather fields and pulling this through to inform operational services, which are vital to inform mitigation strategies for government and industry.
“We look forward to working alongside Birmingham and others to realise this potential and deliver a step-change in national capability that further enhances the UKs reputation as a world leader in space weather science and services.”
“The world leading work to be performed by the Birmingham led consortium will specifically lead to a great enhancement of the Met Office capability to provide tailored services for users of satellite enabled Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT), satellite and long distance communications, radar users and satellite operators.”
Monitoring weather conditions on Mars
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International collaboration takes Vaisala and the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) to Mars onboard NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The rover is scheduled to launch on July 30, 2020. Vaisala’s sensor technology combined with FMI’s measurement instrumentation will be used to obtain accurate and reliable pressure and humidity data from the surface of the red planet.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is among the scientific partners providing measurement equipment for the new Perseverance rover, expected to launch in July and land on Mars in February 2021. The pressure and humidity measurement devices developed by the FMI are based on Vaisala’s world known sensor technology and are similar but more advanced to the ones sent to Mars on the first Curiosity rover in 2012.
The new mission equipment complements the Curiosity rover. While working on Mars, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers?will?form a small-scale observation network. The network is only?the?first step, anticipating
the extensive observation network planned on Mars in the future.
The Mars 2020 mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. In order to obtain data from the surface from the Red Planet, NASA selected trusted partners to provide measurement instruments for installation on the Mars rover. A Spanish-led European consortium provides the rover with Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA); a set of sensors that provides measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and the amount and size of dust particles.
As part of the consortium, FMI delivers instrumentation to MEDA for humidity and pressure measurements based on Vaisala’s top quality sensors.
“Mars, as well as Venus, the other sister planet of Earth, is a particularly important area of atmospheric investigations due to its similarities to Earth. Studying Mars helps us also better understand the behavior of Earth’s atmosphere”, comments Maria Genzer, Head of Planetary Research and Space Technology group at FMI. The harsh and demanding conditions of Mars require the most reliable sensor technology that provides accurate and reliable data without maintenance or repair.
“We are honoured that Vaisala’s core sensor technologies have been selected to provide accurate and reliable measurement data on Mars. In line with our mission to enable observations for a better world, we are excited to be part of this collaboration. Hopefully the measurement technology will provide tools for finding answers to the most pressing challenges of our time, such as climate change,” says Liisa Åström, Vice President, Products and Systems of Vaisala.
In the?extreme conditions of the Martian atmosphere, NASA will be able to obtain?accurate readings of pressure and humidity levels with Vaisala’s?Humicap® and Barocap®
The humidity measurement device MEDA HS, developed by FMI for Perseverance, utilises standard Vaisala Humicap® humidity sensors. Humicap® sensors.?The sensors’ long-term stability and accuracy, as well as their ability to tolerate dust, chemicals, and harsh environmental conditions, make
them suitable for very demanding measurement needs, also in space. The same technology is used in numerous industrial and environmental applications such as weather stations, radiosondes, greenhouses and data centres.
is a capacitive
thin-film polymer sensor consisting of a substrate on which a thin film of polymer is deposited between two conductive electrodes. The humidity sensor onboard is a new generation sensor, with superior performance also in the low pressure conditions expected on the red planet.
In addition to humidity measurements, FMI has developed a device for pressure measurement, MEDA PS, which uses customised Vaisala Barocap® optimised to operate in the Martian climate. Barocap®
pressure sensors,
applications, from meteorology to pressure sensitive industrial equipment in semiconductor industry and laboratory pressure standard measurements. Combining two powerful technologies – single-crystal silicon material and capacitive measurement – BAROCAP® accuracy and long-term stability, both essential for measurements in space.
is a silicon-based micromechanical pressure sensor that offers reliable performance in a wide variety of sensors feature low hysteresis combined with excellent
“Our sensor technologies are used widely in demanding everyday measurement environments here on Earth. And why not – if they work on Mars, they will work anywhere,” Åström concludes. For More Info, email:
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