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Department for Space Weather Impact

Shown are the direct impact of the X9.3 flare from 06.09.2017 on the ionosphere visible due to an sudden increase of ROTI (Rate of change TEC Index)  over Europe. The impact  was observed in real time by DLR’s processing system IMPC (Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center). Credit: DLR

The Department for Space Weather Impacts investigates the Space Weather influence on crucial systems and services such as GNSS or HF communication as well as on ground and space based infrastructures such as power grids or satellites. It investigates disturbances caused in the plasmasphere and ionosphere to develop appropriate indices which help users in the navigation domain estimating the space weather impact on their systems. Thus, the information about the ionospheric state can make significant contributions to avoid safety-critical situations (e.g. for the air transport system) or high costs by exploration approaches (e.g. surveys of offshore resource development or precision positioning). The department further operates the Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center IMPC which provides near real-time information and data service on the current state of the ionosphere, related forecasts and warnings and maintains DLRs space weather data archive.

Structure and research focus areas:

• The working group for Characterization and Prediction of Disturbances investigates ionospheric disturbances caused by solar-terrestrial interaction. This includes dedicated research and development work on the influence of ionospheric effects on precise and safety-critical GNSS. The group develops and demonstrates new methods for real-time monitoring of ionospheric disturbances using satellite and ground-based GNSS measurements.
   
• The working group for Space Weather Impact Studies performs research to improve the knowledge about space weather interactions with human technological infrastructures. The research results support operators of critical infrastructure and services in the domain of navigation, communication, aviation and electric power grids, who have to be aware of strong ionospheric and geomagnetic disturbances.
   
• The working group on Preoperational Services and Validation with its special combination of scientific know-how and data management provides pre-operational space weather forecasting services and its validation. The group will develop methods to measure, evaluate and predict physical as well as technical quantities, which describe the effects of space weather on technical systems.

Address

Department for Space Weather Impact
Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics
Kalkhorstweg 53
17235 Neustrelitz