Space Weather Activities in Germany

Abstract

Germany participates in ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Programme supporting Europe's independent utilization of space through the provision of space weather information, in particular with respect to hazards to the infrastructure. The delivery of space weather services is gathered under five European expert groups and centres of excellence, among which the German Aerospace Center (DLR) coordinates the Ionospheric Weather Expert Service Center (I-ESC). Furthermore, DLR operates the Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center (IMPC). The service center offers nowcast and forecast information on the ionospheric state as well as warnings on issues related to space weather. Moreover, in 2015 the DLR Neustrelitz invited scientists and experts of scientific institutions, commerce and industry as well as government agencies to participate in a joint national space weather workshop and continues previous activities organized in 2000, 2005, and 2008. Those events have contributed to establishing the topic of space weather in Germany in order to raise the awareness of possible influences on the highly technological society. Within the framework of the last workshop, a position paper was prepared which is currently in iteration. The document shall help national decision makers to consider the current aspects of space weather issues for their policy and to use existing national resources accordingly. DLR holds two projects that are part of the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI): The world-spanning, near real-time network named GIFDS (Global Ionospheric Flare Detection System) and the educational project named SOFIE (SOlar Flares detected by Ionospheric Effects). Both projects deal with the monitoring of the lower ionosphere by means of VLF measurements in order to provide information on solar flare effects. The SOFIE project is a prominent part of the annual Joint Space Weather Summer Camp. In collaboration with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the DLR, the Summer Camp has become a trilateral workshop in which always two of the partners take over the role of the hosts. Of course, Germany has a variety of scientists and experts in diverse institutions dealing with the topic space weather. Amongst others, the working group on extraterrestrial research (AEF: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Extraterrestrische Forschung) promotes space weather activities including various subdisciplines ranging from the Sun to the geospace. Therefore, regular meetings and symposia are arranged at national level.