Real-time data from NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer satellite, launched in August 1997, became part of the daily space weather forecast operations today, providing forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center with a valuable tool to improve the forecasts and warnings of solar storms.

At a ribbon cutting at the Space Environment Center (SEC) facility in

Boulder, Colo., officials from NOAA, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the

Japanese Communications Research Laboratory, and others, celebrated

the cooperative efforts that permitted SEC to successfully receive the data.

Congratulations were also received from the President's science advisor,

Jack Gibbons, who commended the agencies involved for this achievement.

Dr. Elbert (Joe) Friday, director of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research for

NOAA, spoke at the gathering and predicted that the Advanced

Composition Explorer (ACE) "will become as significant to space weather

forecasting as meteorological satellites are in forecasting weather on

Earth."

SEC personnel at the NOAA/SEC Center declared the data from ACE

operational on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Once operational, the ACE

measurements become an integral part of predicting geomagnetic storms.

"This is a great advance for space weather forecasting. We now have a

satellite strategically positioned between the sun and the Earth,

intercepting solar winds and geomagnetic activity and allowing us to warn

users such as satellite operations, electric power control centers and

others of a potential threat," said Ernie Hildner, SEC director.

ACE is a coordinated project between NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Air

Force. Both NOAA and Air Force forecasters are incorporating the ACE

data into operations, allowing the agencies to issue one-hour

geomagnetic storm alerts with almost 100 percent accuracy.

Tracking stations around the globe transmit the data to SEC forecasters.

These stations are located in Japan and England, and include global

tracking networks such as that run by the Air Force, and the NASA Deep

Space network.

Geomagnetic storms develop when masses of highly energetic charged

particles are ejected from the sun and, subsequently, hit Earth's magnetic

field. When the Earth encounters these storms, extraordinary fluctuations

occur, at times severe enough to disrupt technological systems on

satellites and on the ground. The ACE satellite measures the chemical

composition of escaping particles from the sun, as well as solar winds'

speed, density and magnetic field. The data is relayed to Earth by

transmitter and used by forecasters to issue alerts.

The sun recently began a new 11-year solar cycle, which is expected to

peak around March 2000. "The timing couldn't be better as we are moving

into a new solar cycle and expecting increased solar activity that threatens

technological systems on Earth," added Hildner. "With ACE data we can

provide the operators of technological systems additional time to adjust

operations to minimize disruptions."

NOAA's Space Environment Center is the nation's official source of space

weather alerts and warnings. The Center continually monitors and

forecasts Earth's space environment; provides accurate, reliable and

useful solar-terrestrial information; and leads programs to improve

services.