688 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 4 / Friday, January 5, 2018 / Notices 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Request for Information—National 

Space Weather Action Plan 

ACTION: Notice for request of 

information. 

SUMMARY: The purpose of this Request 

for Information (RFI) is to seek inputs 

from the public on establishing space 

weather research priorities to address 

Action 5.5.1 in the National Space 

Weather Action Plan. This RFI is 

intended to gather information from 

external stakeholders about potential 

space weather research activities that 

will help guide the science and 

technology priorities of Federal 

agencies. The public input will be used 

as guidance by various concerned 

Federal agencies in planning for 

targeted research programs. Input is 

sought from space weather community 

including researchers in academia and 

industry, non-governmental 

organizations, scientific and 

professional societies, and all other 

interested members of the public. 

Suggestions in response to this RFI will 

assist NSF and other federal agencies 

including NASA, DOC and DOD in 

carrying out action 5.5.1. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted by March 6, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Email comments to 

spwxrfi@nsf.gov. Include ‘‘RFI 

Response: SWORM Goal 5.5.1’’ in the 

subject line of the message. The 

response must be an attachment to the 

email. See the instructions in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for 

comment guidelines. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Contact spwxrfi@nsf.gov for further 

information. Any requests for 

clarification must be received no later 

than seven (7) business days prior to the 

close of this RFI in order to receive a 

timely response. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background Information 

On October 29, 2015, the White House 

OSTP released the National Space 

Weather Strategy (NSWS) and Space 

Weather Action Plan (SWAP). The 

NSWS identifies several key goals in 

specific areas of space weather research 

and operations to make the national 

critical infrastructure and technologies 

resilient to space weather events. The 

NSWS also calls for improving national 

space-weather services through 

advancing fundamental understanding 

of the underlying physical processes 

and their forecasting. The SWAP 

document, which accompanied NSWS, 

specifies actions to develop and 

continually improve predictive models 

through enhanced fundamental 

understanding of space weather and its 

drivers. In particular, the SWAP Action 

5.5.1 directed NSF, NASA, DOC and 

DOD with documenting priorities for 

research and development (R&D) efforts 

to enhance the fundamental 

understanding of space weather and its 

drivers and to improve space weather 

forecasting capabilities. 

Action 5.5.1: NSF and NASA, in 

collaboration with DOC and DOD, will lead 

an annual effort to prioritize and identify 

opportunities for research and development 

(R&D) to enhance the understanding of space 

weather and its sources. These activities will 

be coordinated with existing National-level 

and scientific studies. This effort will include 

modeling, developing, and testing models of 

the coupled sun-Earth system and 

quantifying the long- and short-term 

variability of space weather. 

Forecasting space weather depends on 

understanding the fundamental 

processes that give rise to hazardous 

events. Continued support for basic 

research in solar and space physics is 

essential to achieve the level of 

understanding required for accurate 

predictions. Particularly important is 

the study of processes that link the SunEarth system and that control the flow 

of energy within the coupled system. 

Space weather science as a discipline 

is still in its nascent phase. There exist 

significant gaps in the fundamental 

understanding of many physical 

processes and coupling mechanisms 

underpinning various space weather 

phenomena. This poses a major limiting 

factor for improving space weather 

prediction, including some of the most 

important and immediate operational 

needs. It is, therefore, essential to 

continue untargeted investments in 

basic research into areas that in 

unforeseeable ways can lead to a better 

understanding of the physical processes 

that drive space weather. 

High priority space weather research 

topics and linkages to the SWAP 

Benchmarks (Goal 1) were assessed by 

the 5.5.1 interagency working group. 

The SWAP benchmarks are a set of 

physical characteristics and conditions 

against which a space-weather event can 

be measured. They describe the nature 

and intensity of extreme space-weather 

events, providing a point of reference 

from which to improve understanding 

of space-weather effects. Addressing 

research that would advance our 

physical understanding of the 

phenomenology behind these 

benchmarks will ultimately improve our 

predictive capability necessary for 

operational advancements. 

II. Purpose 

Successful execution of Action 5.5.1 

requires definitions of research 

priorities in the context of benchmarks 

identified by NSWS Goal 1. An 

interagency working group developed 

the first set of priorities in fulfillment of 

this task. To ensure that an optimal list 

of priorities is generated, which could 

benefit all interested parties including 

Federal agencies, state and local 

governments, universities, policy 

groups, and the private sector, the 

broader community must weigh in. This 

RFI requests public comments to SWAP 

Action 5.5.1 to support a public 

dialogue on developing research 

priorities to enhance fundamental 

understanding of space weather and its 

drivers to develop and continually 

improve predictive models. 

This RFI seeks inputs from the 

research community on setting research 

priorities, which will then be used as 

guidance by various concerned agencies 

in planning for space weather related 

research programs. Examples of space 

weather research topics include 

ionospheric irregularities and structure, 

thermospheric neutral density and 

neutral wind response to external 

drivers, forecasting of GICs, radiation 

belt dynamics, SEP events, flare and 

CME initiation and propagation, 

forecasting of EUV and proxy F10.7, 

predictions of ICME amplitudes and 

directions, magnetosphere-ionosphere 

coupling during space weather events, 

etc. 

III. Response Instructions 

The specific objective of this RFI is to 

seek information that will assist the 

Action 5.5.1 Working Group in 

determining a list of space weather 

research priorities. 

Disclaimer: Federal agencies may or 

may not use any responses to this RFI 

as a basis for a subsequent project, 

program, or funding opportunity. 

Responses to this RFI will not be 

returned. The National Science 

Foundation is under no obligation to 

acknowledge receipt of the information 

received, or provide feedback to 

respondents with respect to any 

information submitted under this RFI. 

No requests for a bid package or 

solicitation will be accepted; no bid 

package or solicitation exists. In order to 

protect the integrity of any possible 

future acquisition, no additional 

information will be provided and no 

appointments for presentations will be 

made in reference to this RFI. This RFI 

is issued solely for information and 

planning purposes and does not 

constitute a solicitation. Responders to 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 4 / Friday, January 5, 2018 / Notices 689 

this RFI will have no competitive 

advantage in receiving any awards 

related to the submitted input on a 

potential space weather-related research 

priority. 

Confidential Information: Some 

contents of the submissions may be 

made public. Therefore, responses must 

be unclassified and should not contain 

any information that might be 

considered proprietary, confidential, 

business sensitive, or personally 

identifying (such as home address or 

social security number). 

Instructions: One page documents per 

topic, multiple documents are allowed. 

Reponses must include the following 

sections; (1) Title—short and 

descriptive, (2) Brief Summary of 

Impacts—a bulleted list of systems 

impacted by the potential study, (3) 

Description—a succinct discussion of 

the topic, its importance, and relevant 

supporting evidence or arguments, (4) 

5–10 year Imperatives—a bulleted list of 

the steps necessary to carry out the 

research including comments on 

relative importance to other. A section 

including references can be added if 

needed. Responses should follow the 

template outlined below. Responses 

may be no longer than 1 page type 

written in 12-point font. 

Response Template 

Title of the priority 

Brief Summary of Impacts 

• One sentence summary of impact 1 

• One sentence summary of impact 2 

Background and Relevance 

A few paragraphs explaining the 

background of the space weather 

research priority, its relevance to 

SWAP Goal 5.5.1 and supporting 

justification of why this is a high 

priority issue. 

5–10 Year Goals 

Over the next 5 to 10 years it is 

imperative to: 

• One sentence summary of goal 1 

• One sentence summary of goal 2 

References 

Include essential references only 

References: 

National Space Weather Strategy, https://

obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/ 

default/files/microsites/ostp/final_

nationalspaceweatherstrategy_

20151028.pdf. 

National Space Weather Action Plan, https:// 

obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/ 

default/files/microsites/ostp/final_

nationalspaceweatheractionplan_

20151028.pdf. 

Dated: January 2, 2018 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, 

Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00031 Filed 1–4–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Notice of Permit Applications Received 

Under the Antarctic Conservation Act 

of 1978 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation. 

ACTION: Notice of permit applications 

received. 

SUMMARY: The National Science 

Foundation (NSF) is required to publish 

a notice of permit applications received 

to conduct activities regulated under the 

Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. 

NSF has published regulations under 

the Antarctic Conservation Act in the 

Code of Federal Regulations. This is the 

required notice of permit applications 

received. 

DATES: Interested parties are invited to 

submit written data, comments, or 

views with respect to this permit 

application by February 5, 2018. This 

application may be inspected by 

interested parties at the Permit Office, 

address below. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be 

addressed to Permit Office, Office of 

Polar Programs, National Science 

Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, 

Alexandria, Virginia 22314. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nature McGinn, ACA Permit Officer, at 

the above address, 703–292–8030, or 

ACApermits@nsf.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

National Science Foundation, as 

directed by the Antarctic Conservation 

Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95–541, 45 CFR 

670), as amended by the Antarctic 

Science, Tourism and Conservation Act 

of 1996, has developed regulations for 

the establishment of a permit system for 

various activities in Antarctica and 

designation of certain animals and 

certain geographic areas a requiring 

special protection. The regulations 

establish such a permit system to 

designate Antarctic Specially Protected 

Areas. 

Application Details 

Permit Application: 2018–030 

1. Applicant: Sarah Eppley, Portland 

State University, Department of Biology, 

PO Box 751, Portland, OR 97207. 

Activity for Which Permit Is Requested 

Enter Antarctic Specially Protected 

Areas (ASPAs), sample collection and 

import into the USA. The applicant 

proposes to collect moss and soil 

samples from ASPAs to investigate how 

warming will affect Antarctic moss 

terrestrial ecosystems. Moss and soil 

samples, up to 3 cm deep, would be 

collected using a metal 2 cubic 

centimeter coring device. Up to 180 

samples total from each of seven 

different moss species and up to 400 

total soil samples will be collected. 

Sample collection would require access 

to APSA in the South Shetland Islands. 

The samples would be imported back to 

the home university. 

Location 

ASPA 125, Fildes Peninsula, King 

George Island, including Zone 125c, 

Glacier Dome Belligshausen (Collins 

Glacier); ASPA 150, Ardley Island, 

Maxwell Bay, Antarctic Peninsula; 

ASPA 126, Byers Peninsula, Livingston 

Island. 

Dates of Permitted Activities 

January 30–June 30, 2018. 

Nadene G. Kennedy, 

Polar Coordination Specialist, Office of Polar 

Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00009 Filed 1–4–18; 8:45 am] 

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2018–0001] 

Sunshine Act Meeting Notice 

DATES: Weeks of January 8, 15, 22, 29, 

February 5, 12, 2018. 

PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference 

Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland. 

STATUS: Public and Closed. 

Week of January 8, 2018 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of January 8, 2018. 

Week of January 15, 2018—Tentative 

Thursday, January 18, 2018 

9:00 a.m. Strategic Programmatic 

Overview of the Decommissioning 

and Low-Level Waste and Spent 

Fuel Storage and Transportation 

Business Lines (Public Meeting) 

(Contact: Damaris Marcano: 301– 

415–7328) 

This meeting will be webcast live at 

the Web address—http://www.nrc.gov/. 


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