|
|
 |
National Space Weather Program
Description
The National Space Weather Program is an interagency initiative to speed improvement of space weather services.The NSWP aims to identify and pursue research that has the greatest potential for service to society and to facilitate the transition of research results to practical utilization at forecast centers. Although "space weather" poses a more limited and less visible hazard to human life than natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, it can still cause enough damage and inconvenience to be categorized as a natural disaster:
- Some space-weather effects are felt on the Earth directly. For example, sudden changes in ionosphere-magnetosphere electrical currents cause corresponding changes in the magnetic field at ground level, inducing currents in the solid Earth, blowing out transformers, and causing power outages that are sometimes widespread.
- Ionosphere variability impacts an increasing number of ground-based and satellite-based systems, including the accuracy and general availability of global cellular telephone systems, GPS navigation, over-the-horizon radars, space-to-ground and space tracking radars, HF communication and amateur radio, and direct broadcast television.
- Operations in space are more severely affected by space weather. Solar particle events are likely to affect activities of astronauts constructing the International Space Station. Also, strong fluxes of kilovolt electrons may permanently damage communication satellites by producing electrostatic charges on the surfaces of solar panels.
Target Dates and Deadlines
There are no deadlines or target dates for proposals sent in to any of the UARS base programs. However, we recommend that PIs try to send in proposals early in the fiscal year. Certain special programs within UARS do have deadlines for proposal submissions. See the table below for more information.
Program Contact(s)
Richard A. Behnke
Section Head, Upper Atmosphere Research
Phone: 703.292.8518
Fax: 703.292.9023
Email: rbehnke@nsf.gov
|
Division of Atmospheric
Sciences, NSF