Examples of model validation approaches in the SSA Space Weather Service Network

Abstract

In the framework of the Space Situational Awareness Programme (SSA), the European Space Agency (ESA) organizes a comprehensive Space WEather (SWE) Network, which aims to help end-users in a wide range of SWE affected sectors to mitigate the effects on their systems, reducing costs and improving reliability. This ESA SSA SWE Network consists of five Expert Service Centres (ESCs), the SSA SWE Coordination Centre (SSCC) and the SWE Data Centre (SWE-DC). The objective of this network is to provide SWE services to users dependent on space weather conditions. The SWE services are composed of an extensive number of products provided by numerous contributing expert groups. Each product is delivered to the SSA SWE network with a full package of documentation and user guidance. This includes results of validation and verification procedures helping the end-user to identify the appropriate products for each application. Recently, numerous products have been subject to dedicated validation campaigns. These validation campaigns were following specific rules of the road, which were established by a dedicated SSA SWE Network working group to accomplish harmonization of validation approaches in the SSA SWE Network and provide user guidance. Here, examples for approaches and results of validation campaigns for SWE models applied in the SSA SWE Network will be presented and discussed in respect to user guidance.