Space Weather Datasets for NOAA's Science on a Sphere

NOAA’s Science on a Sphere (SOS) is a room-sized, spherical projection system that allows for the visualization of planetary data in an exciting and interactive way. Sitting at over six feet in diameter, this powerful tool uses computers and video projectors to create various eye-catching animations. The SOS is a powerful outreach tool that we at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center use to display awe-inspiring and pertinent space weather datasets. This space weather includes aurora and solar images, providing useful information and an educational experience to the viewer. The OVATION Prime model uses solar wind to forecast the aurora with a 20–50-minute lead time and is used to create hindcasts, as well as nowcasts and forecasts. Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) images from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) on NOAA’s GOES satellite are used to produce solar images and loops on the SOS. Datasets have been created for the 2003 Halloween storms and the first severe (G4) geomagnetic storm of solar cycle 25 in April, 2023. As we develop more advanced technology and rely on it more continually, the impacts of space weather continue to grow, making the understanding of this data more important. SOS is an ideal vessel for allowing experience via visualization, with minimal distortion of data, as its spherical nature aligns with the true shape of the Earth and Sun. Future exploits include getting real-time data and forecasts onto the SOS, giving viewers even more resources to learn about space weather.