From Predicting Solar Activity to Forecasting Space Weather: Practical Examples of Research-to-Operations and Operations-to-Research

TL;DR

This paper discusses how effective communication and collaboration between research and operational communities have advanced space weather forecasting, highlighting practical examples and emphasizing education and ongoing dialogue.

Contribution

It provides real-world examples of successful research-to-operations and operations-to-research transitions in space weather forecasting, emphasizing the importance of community interaction.

Findings

Close interaction facilitated the deployment of new tools and models.

Effective communication improved forecast accuracy and operational readiness.

Education efforts helped bridge the gap between research and operational needs.

Abstract

The successful transition of research to operations (R2O) and operations to research (O2R) requires, above all, interaction between the two communities. We explore the role that close interaction and ongoing communication played in the successful fielding of three separate developments: an observation platform, a numerical model, and a visualization and specification tool. Additionally, we will examine how these three pieces came together to revolutionize interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) arrival forecasts. A discussion of the importance of education and training in ensuring a positive outcome from R2O activity follows. We describe efforts by the meteorological community to make research results more accessible to forecasters and the applicability of these efforts to the transfer of space-weather research.We end with a forecaster "wish list" for R2O transitions. Ongoing, two-way communication between the research and operations communities is the thread connecting it all.