Topical Discussion Meeting - Benchmarking Extreme Space Weather Events for Improved Global Resilience

Thomas Colvin (Science & Technology Policy Institute); Mike Hapgood (U.K. Research and Innovation - Science and Technology Facilities Council); Geoffrey Reeves (Los Alamos National Lab and The New Mexico Consortium)
Monday 18/11, 17:15-18:30

Extreme space weather events can disrupt, degrade, or damage infrastructure and technology systems, including the electrical power grid and national security assets. Space weather benchmarks, which quantitatively characterize the intensity and duration of extreme space weather events, can improve resilience by providing input for engineering standards, vulnerability assessments, risk estimates, and thresholds for action.

In this meeting, we will invite discussion on national efforts to develop benchmarks, ways to improve their utility, and potential avenues for international cooperation. We will include as examples ongoing efforts in the United Kingdom (e.g., Space Environment Impacts Expert Group report on Space Weather Worst-Case Environments) and the United States (e.g., Next Step Space Weather Benchmarks). We look forward to additional contributions from other countries for an active and robust discussion.