2025 Workshop: Long-Term Strategy for Ground-Based Heliophysics
Katelynn Greer
Marilia Samara
Mark Conde
Shun-Rong Zhang
Ground-based instruments have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of heliophysics. However, the sustainability and expansion of these critical observations face challenges due to historically limited funding for geospace programs. To secure the future of ground-based (GB) observations, we must develop a long-term, science-driven strategy that emphasizes agency collaboration and unified community advocacy.
This session will explore pathways to strengthen support for GB instrumentation, including agency collaboration, unified community approach and Science-Driven Strategy. By fostering collaboration and advocacy, we can drive sustainable growth in ground-based observations and enhance their impact on the field.
This workshop is timely, as a community-driven approach to sustaining support for ground-based instruments is essential for ensuring continuous data collection. Such support is particularly important for investigations that involve long development cycles or require long-term measurements, such as those related to the solar cycle or space missions. The central question we aim to address is: How can we design a strategic plan to ensure the long-term support of ground-based instruments? The workshop will take the form of a panel discussion, promoting dialogue on strategies for securing sustained funding, enhancing agency collaboration, and aligning community efforts. Panelists will include representatives from funding agencies, principal investigators of space and ground-based missions, and, if available, international partners. Given its broad relevance, this topic is of significant importance to all CEDAR and GEM science areas.