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 Forecasters inside the SWPC | |
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| Headquarters | 39°59′30″N105°15′40″W / 39.991618°N 105.261188°W /39.991618; -105.261188 |
| Parent agency | National Centers for Environmental Prediction |
| Website | www |
| Part ofa series on the |
| United States space program |
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National security space |
TheSpace Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), named theSpace Environment Center (SEC) until 2007,[1] is a laboratory and service center of the USNational Weather Service (NWS), part of theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), located inBoulder, Colorado.[2] SWPC continually monitors and forecasts Earth'sspace environment, providingsolar-terrestrial information. SWPC is the official source ofspace weather alerts and warnings for theUnited States.
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The Space Weather Prediction Center is one of the nineNational Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar andgeophysical events, conducts research in solar-terrestrial physics (i.e.heliophysics), and develops techniques for forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances. The SWPC Forecast Center is jointly operated by NOAA and theU.S. Air Force (USAF) and is thenational and world warning center for disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in thespace environment. SWPC works with many national and international partners who contribute data and observations.
A few of the agencies and industry that rely on SWPC services:
TheFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires dispatchers to take into considerationHF communication degradation for each dispatched polar flight. Flights can be diverted based on SWPC solar radiation alerts ifair traffic control (ATC) communication is compromised, with estimated costs as high as $100K per flight. A 23-day period in 2001 saw 25 flights diverted due to suchradio blackouts.
The Center does not issue atmospheric density forecasts for commercial space launches. The loss of 38Starlink satellites in February 2022 prompted scientists to call for it to do so.[3]
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