Jointly operated by NOAA and the U.S. Air Force, SWO provides forecasts and warnings of solar and geomagnetic activity to users in government, industry, and the private sector. SWO continuously monitors, analyzes, and forecasts the environment between the Sun and Earth. The Center receives solar and geophysical data in real time from a large number of ground-based observatories and satellite sensors around the world. SWO forecasters use these data to predict solar and geomagnetic activity and issue worldwide alerts of extreme events. The Sun goes through cycles of high and low activity that repeat approximately every 11 years.
Sunspots are sources of flares, the most violent events in the solar system.
In a matter of minutes, a large flare releases a million times more energy than the largest earthquake. Episodic solar activity has a number of effects that are of interest to us. A radiation dose from energetic particles is an occasional hazard for astronauts and for electronics on satellites. SEC provides warnings of these events and continues the solar monitoring that began 400 years ago with Galileo's invention of the telescope.