NOAA Improves Its Climate Forecasting Skills

Officials with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say that they are now using a new, sophisticated space weather prediction model, which is bound to increase the organization's ability to improve on its current climate forecasting skills.

The model could therefore be used in the creation of an early-warning system that would put us on our guard every time a solar storm or coronal mass ejection occurs on the surface of the Sun. Such events can have negative effects on Earth, such as disrupted communications and fried power grids.

“This advanced model has strengthened forecasters’ understanding of what happens in the 93 million miles between Earth and the sun following a solar disturbance,” explains the director of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, Tom Bogdan.

“It will help power grid and communications technology managers know what to expect so they can protect infrastructure and the public,” the expert adds.