NOAA's Space Weather Pilot Project: Results from Data Evaluation

The Commercial Data Program (CDP), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services (NESDIS), includes the Commercial Weather Data Pilot (CWDP) which pursues demonstration projects on behalf of NOAA and assesses the viability of assimilating commercially-provided satellite data and products to diversify NOAA’s portfolio of data collection capabilities. The CWDP projects began in 2016 when NOAA initiated the first Pilot to conduct demonstrations of space-based commercial data sources that could meet NOAA mission requirements, augmenting and enhancing the observations obtained from Government operated assets. The Pilot results informed NOAA’s process for ingesting, evaluating, and utilizing commercial data in the future. To date, NOAA has completed three CWDP projects, the first two focused on neutral-atmosphere parameters derived from Radio Occultation data and the recently-concluded pilot focusing on space-weather parameters derived from Radio Occultation data.

In 2020, Congress enacted the Promoting Research and Observations of Space Weather to Improve the Forecasting of Tomorrow (PROSWIFT) Act, setting forth provisions to improve the Nation’s ability to forecast and mitigate effects of space weather. PROSWIFT authorizes NOAA to engage the commercial sector specifically to provide space weather data meeting NOAA’s standards. In response, NOAA awarded Commercial Weather Data Pilot (CWDP) contracts for space weather data to PlanetiQ and Spire Global Subsidiary, Inc. Both contracts concluded in Aug 2023.

In this Pilot study, named the Space Weather Data Pilot, PlanetiQ and Spire provided six months of near real-time radio occultation measurements of the ionosphere from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. Two specific categories of data products were derived and examined in this Pilot: total electron content (TEC) measurements and high-rate scintillation measurements during periods of increased ionospheric activity. These products help provide insight into near-real-time space weather conditions that impact a wide range of activities, including aviation, satellite operations, navigation, and communications. In this presentation, we will discuss the data evaluation results of both the total electron content and scintillation measurements and future plans in operationalizing this data with an eye toward potential commercial data purchases by the CDP to support NOAA’s operational space weather forecasting and nowcasting endeavors.