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Is the sky falling? Space weather

This week NASA reported three major X-class eruptions from the surface of the sun.

Thanks to all the cool technology we've got floating around in space, some pretty impressive images have been posted showing these flares in all their fiery glory.

In typical doomsayer style, many "news" websites have jumped on these events to predict dire consequences, carrying headlines such as Earth Could Be Hit By An Intense Solar Storm On Friday The 13th

Indeed, it seems that every time there's even a moderate coronal mass ejection (CME), the media goes mad, predicting dire consequences for satellites as well as earth-based communications and power networks.

Strangely enough, the reality is often far removed from the picture painted by those who are seeking to attract eyeballs and sell advertising.

So where can you go for a more objective prediction as to the effects of any specific solar events?

Fortunately, the US weather service's monitoring now extends far beyond the planet's fragile ecosphere and they've come up with the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) with an even newer website currently in beta-test (very good -- take a look).

Interestingly, unlike the media, the SWPC isn't predicting doom and gloom.

At the time I write this, their website simply states:

"Solar activity is ticking along at minor to moderate levels (R1-R2 radio blackouts) with the potential to throw more significant activity our way"

I love this website, especially the new version currently in beta-test. Just like the Met Service, the SWPC has a bunch of weather graphics to show just what's going on -- except this deals with the ether between us and the sun.

It is fantastic to reflect back on the fact that when I was born, we had nothing like this level of technology. Hell, Russia hadn't even launched the world's very first artificial satellite. That every person in the developed world now has free access to such data from almost any point on the planet (thanks to mobile technology) beggars belief.

For all their faults, the US government must be commended for making such a huge swathe of their science work freely available to the population of the planet.

Not only does NOAA share its data via the web but other tax-payer funded science organisations such as NASA also do a terrific job of sharing the knowledge. Indeed, you can waste many hours just trawling around the many nooks and crannies of the NASA website.

By comparison, it's sad to see that NZ's equivalent of NOAA opts to charge through the nose for its data. Indeed, the local site WeatherWatch.co.nz is forced to use NOAA maps and data for its local forecasting because it can't afford the hefty fees that our government's weather service demands.

Given that the taxpayer has contributed significant sums to purchasing NIWA's new supercomputer, you'd think that the least they could do is make the results of that investment freely available to all who need or want it -- as is the case in the USA.

I guess this raises a much bigger question...

Should state-sponsored science be operated as a "for profit" commercial activity, with all the issues that creates -- or should it be completely focused on the science rather than scrambling to earn revenues and competing with private-enterprise?

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