To protect air traffic on northern polar routes, INGV will supply the Global Space Weather Service Center managed by the European PECASUS consortium with ionospheric and geomagnetic data aimed at improving air flight safety
Three global space weather service centers have been designated in Montreal (Canada) by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to support world civil aviation with observations and forecasts of circumterrestrial space and atmospheric conditions on the occasion of severe solar storms. The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) will provide its contribution to the center managed by the European consortium PECASUS (www.pecasus.eu), alongside prestigious institutions from eight other countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland (coordinator of the consortium through the Finnish Meteorological Institute - IMF), Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.
INGV, in particular, will provide PECASUS with suitably processed ionospheric and geomagnetic data to issue notices on changed space weather conditions. The Belgian Center for Sun-Earth Relations (CETS) will consolidate the content of the observations, observed data products and models provided by all consortium partners, while the British Meteorological Center (MetOffice, UK) will manage the security systems so that all PECASUS operations are guaranteed even in cases of infrastructural anomalies. Validation of service performance and connection with end users will be entrusted to the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).
The objective of PECASUS is to monitor space meteorological conditions to reduce the risk of flight personnel and travelers traveling the northern polar routes exposed to strong emissions of matter and very high-energy radiation from the Sun. These emissions, albeit occasional, can also have a relevant impact on the ability to navigate and communicate correctly.
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Article from the INGV Ambiente blog