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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2008. Severe Space Weather Events: Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12507.
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Page 91
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2008. Severe Space Weather Events: Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12507.
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Page 92
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2008. Severe Space Weather Events: Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12507.
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Page 93

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Appendixes

A Statement of Task An ad hoc committee, operating under the auspices of the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Academies, will convene a public workshop that will feature invited presentations and discussion to assess the nation’s current and future ability to manage the effects of space weather events and their societal and economic impacts. Although cost/benefit analyses of terrestrial weather observing systems and mitigation strategies have a long history, similar studies for space weather are lacking. Workshop sessions will include an analysis of the effects of historical space weather events, and will use the record solar storms of October and November 2003 to focus the presentations and provide data to project future vulnerabilities. The inclusion of historic events and intervals will be important to capture the breadth of space weather impacts, which can be different from event to event, and impacts that occur during non-storm times. There will also be sessions on how space weather impacts might change as technologies evolve and new technologies appear. Topics to be addressed at the workshop include: • What are the socioeconomic consequences to the nation of severe space weather events? • What were the specific effects of the October-November 2003 events? • How likely are events that are more intense than the 2003 events and what might be the consequences of such events? • Given existing space weather services, what losses were avoided, or could have been avoided, in recent events? • Are there specific ground- or space-based sensors that might mitigate or avoid the effects of future severe space weather events? In particular: How will assimilation of data from the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR) and the Frequency-Agile Solar Radiotelescope (FASR) be used? How might the arrays of instru- ments envisioned for implementation of the Distributed Arrays of Small Instruments (DASI) concept be employed? How would the loss of Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) data affect forecast capabilities? What steps might better facilitate the transition to operations of the current and planned solar and space physics missions that have application to monitoring and prediction of severe space weather events? A report of the workshop will be written. 93

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The adverse effects of extreme space weather on modern technology--power grid outages, high-frequency communication blackouts, spacecraft anomalies--are well known and well documented, and the physical processes underlying space weather are also generally well understood. Less well documented and understood, however, are the potential economic and societal impacts of the disruption of critical technological systems by severe space weather.

As a first step toward determining the socioeconomic impacts of extreme space weather events and addressing the questions of space weather risk assessment and management, a public workshop was held in May 2008. The workshop brought together representatives of industry, the government, and academia to consider both direct and collateral effects of severe space weather events, the current state of the space weather services infrastructure in the United States, the needs of users of space weather data and services, and the ramifications of future technological developments for contemporary society's vulnerability to space weather. The workshop concluded with a discussion of un- or underexplored topics that would yield the greatest benefits in space weather risk management.

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