Simulating Space Weather Extremes: A Workshop to Identify Research Needs to Improve Power Grid Resilience to Geomagnetic Activity; Fall 2021 in Washington DC

Space weather can create picturesque auroras but poses a potential hazard to technology on which modern society relies. It is essential for space weather researchers, forecasters, end-users (e.g., utility operators) and the emergency management community to work together to understand and mitigate this natural hazard. This project will convene a 3-day workshop in Fall 2021 in Washington DC, in which a mock space weather event will be used to step through the modeling, prediction and forecast, communication, and response stages involving every community in the space weather-to-power grid domain.

The workshop organizing committee has members representing each major link in the information flow. Students and early-career space weather professionals will be actively involved in the activities. A workshop report summarizing the state of the practice for power grid response to space weather will be made publicly available.

The simulation will make use of federally funded solar wind, geomagnetic index, and geoelectric field data and models, and an open-source software tool for performing assessment of geomagnetic disturbances’ impact on power grids. A hackathon will help identify and build tools that support better communication and data analytics for the space weather-to-power grid community.

The workshop outcomes will identify research and development and operational gaps regarding space weather effects on the electric power grid and help improve the Nation’s response to extreme space weather.

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.