NSF Award
2140031
Space Weather is the term used to describe changing environmental conditions in the near-Earth space as a result of disturbances originating from the Sun. The need to strengthen the US ability to observe, model, and forecast Space Weather has been widely recognized, as exemplified by the recently passed bipartisan PROSWIFT Act (Promoting Research and Observations of Space Weather to Improve the Forecasting of Tomorrow). This award provides support for development and operations of the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), a premier US center for modeling of processes in the upper atmosphere and the solar-terrestrial environment that are highly relevant to Space Weather. CCMC provides access to space science community models and also provides run-time for models upon request. Specifically, this work will further develop the models for Ionosphere-Thermosphere-Mesosphere (ITM) research community support and provide hands-on education and outreach in space weather. The activities will comprise (1) improvements in ITM modeling capabilities, including incorporation of the low and middle atmosphere and better model portability and ease of upgrades; (2) installation of new model combinations that would couple the ITM system and the magnetosphere; (3) development of a new ITM component of CCMC software for model output access, interpolation and post-processing and a new tool to study relative importance of ITM drivers from above and below; (4) addition of metadata attributes for all ITM models and simulation results; (5) development of new online system for ITM model evaluation projects and community-wide modeling challenges; and (6) provision of new services and tools to support NSF Geospace Facilities and Space Weather programs. This project will also continue and extend the Research, Education, and Development Initiative (REDI) at CCMC that provide internship opportunities and engage students in a broad spectrum of CCMC activities. The activities involving interns will include support for educators with setting up Space Weather courses which would utilize interactive visualization of Space Weather simulations in planetariums and classrooms.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
