U.S. Space Weather Service in Deep Trouble
From: Space Environment Center
Date: Wed Sep 24, 2003 10:35:12 AM US/Eastern
To: sec-announcement-send@dawn.sec.noaa.gov
Subject: SEC-Letter
Dear Friend,
The following describes Space Environment Center’s unfortunate financial
situation. For the coming fiscal year, the House Committee-recommended
funding creates a huge shortfall, and the Senate Committee’s
recommendation implies no support for space weather service at all this
year. Possibly a new service would be established elsewhere in the
government, but that is uncertain at this point.
We thought you would like to know.
Ernest Hildner and the staff of SEC
U.S. SPACE WEATHER SERVICE IN DEEP TROUBLE
SUMMARY
For Fiscal Year 2004, starting October 1, 2003, the House Appropriations
Bill for Commerce, Justice, and State continues Space Environment
Center’s funding at $5.2 M (a reduction of 40% below the FY02 level).
Worse, the FY04 Senate Appropriations Bill zeroes Space Environment
Center and all space weather in NOAA, so services, data and
observations, and archiving would all disappear if the final
appropriation is at the Senate level. At the House funding level,
starting October 1 SEC will rapidly lose about half its staff,
negatively affecting its ability to serve the Nation with operational
products, data collection, and R&D. Unless the appropriation level for
Space Environment Center is restored to the level of the President’s
FY04 Budget Request, $8.3 million, the Nation’s civilian space weather
service is in trouble. At the President’s requested funding level,
Space Environment Center can almost return to FY02 level of services,
data, and R&D.
BACKGROUND
NOAA’s Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, provides a range
of services to the Nation related to space weather phenomena. Among
other activities, the Center is the unique provider of real-time
monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events, it conducts
research in solar-terrestrial physics, and it develops techniques for
forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances. That is, Space
Environment Center is the Nation’s space weather service, monitoring and
predicting conditions in space, much as the National Weather Service
does for meteorological weather.
SEC jointly operates the Space Weather Operations Center with the U.S.
Air Force and serves as the national and world warning center for
disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in the space
environment. It is the government’s official source for alerts and
warnings of disturbances. Customers include DoD, NASA, FAA, airlines,
operators of electric power grids, communicators, satellite operators,
the National Space Weather Program, and commercial providers of
value-added space weather services. Partnering with researchers funded
by NSF, NASA, and the DoD, Space Environment Center is the place where
much of the nation’s $100s of millions annual investment in the National
Space Weather Program and in space physics research is applied for the
benefit of commerce, defense, NASA spaceflight, and individual
taxpayers.
SEC’s appropriation lines can be found in the Department of Commerce,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office of
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research portion of the Budget.
In the omnibus appropriations Bill for FY 2003, the SEC received a
severe cut to its budget of about 40%, with no explanation for the
reduction. One-time funding additions have kept SEC afloat in FY2003.
The President’s Budget request is $8.3 million for SEC in FY2004 (an
amount consistent with its past budgetary levels), but the House
Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Committee provides only $5.2
million, or roughly 40% less than the amount necessary to maintain SEC
at its current operational effectiveness. Again for FY04, no
explanatory text was included in the Committee Report to explain this
reduction, and it far exceeds the 18 % reduction below request meted out
to NOAA Research overall and the 1% reduction to National Weather
Service’s request. The Bill has not yet been acted upon by the full
House. The Senate Appropriations Committee explains its termination of
space weather in NOAA in the Report accompanying its
Commerce-Justice-State Bill as follows.
The full text of the Senate Report may be found at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=sr144&dbname=cp108&
Solar observation. – The “Atmospheric” in NOAA does not extend to the
astral. Absolutely no funds are provided for solar observation. Such
activities are rightly the bailiwick of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration and the Air Force.
Needless to say, there is no evidence to suggest that NASA and the Air
Force agree that one or the other, or both, should operate the Nation’s
civilian space weather service.
CONCLUSION
Unless SEC’s appropriation level is increased in Conference, the best
outlook is that Space Environment Center shrinks to less than half its
capability (House mark), and the worst is that space weather will
disappear from NOAA (Senate mark). In this case, the Nation’s space
weather service will have to be reconstituted in some other agency, at
greater cost and lesser capability, to meet the Nation’s needs.
Ernest Hildner
Director, Space Environment Center
Manager, NOAA Space Weather Program
Tel: 303-497-3311
Fax: 303 497-3645
325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305
www.sec.noaa.gov
