Topical Discussion Meeting - Expanded International Coordination for Space Weather in the UN Context – Fulfilling the promise of UNISPACE+50

Ian Mann (University of Alberta), Hermann J. Opgenoorth (Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Sweden)
Tuesday 6/11, 17:15-18:30
MTC 00.03

The fiftieth anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, held in Vienna in August 1968, will be marked in 2018 by UNISPACE+50, an ambitious undertaking to consider the current status and define the future role of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), its subsidiary bodies, and the Office for Outer Space Affairs. In preparation for UNISPACE+50, the Committee endorsed in 2016 space weather as one of seven thematic priorities.

Over the intervening years, the Committee’s Expert Group on Space Weather has held multiple discussions culminating in a set of recommendations made available in its report on Thematic Priority 4: International Framework for Space Weather Services for UNISPACE+50 (A/AC.105/1171) (see also the Commentary in Mann et al., Space Weather, (2018) doi:10.1029/2018SW001815).
The Expert Group further agreed (A/AC.105/C.1/2018/CRP.14) at the 55th Session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) to hold intersessional meetings in 2018 to consider these recommendations, including towards the goal of establishing an international coordination group for space weather and the related development of a proposal for the appropriate terms of reference, mandate, and composition. The first such meeting was held at the Space Weather Workshop in Westminster, Colorado (April 16-20, 2018), with a second meeting planned for the Asia-Oceania Space Weather Alliance workshop in Bandung, Indonesia (September 19-21, 2018).

This topical discussion meeting at ESSW will be the final meeting in advance of the 2019 STSC. The intent will be to review a draft report to be communicated by the Expert Group for information and initial consideration by the States members of the Committee, towards the goal of establishing this international coordination group for space weather following approval by the Committee in 2020.