2013 Workshop: UK US Space Weather Collaboration
It is worth noting that I have asked for a similar session at GEM, so the discussion at CEDAR will relate to the IT elements of a proposed US/UK Space Weather collaboration.
In February 2012, a delegation from the UK's Natural Environment Research Council, whose remit includes the upper atmosphere and Earth-directed space weather, visited Washington for discussions with several US agencies involved in space weather (NSF, NOAA, NASA, AFOSR and NRL). The discussions focused on areas of possible UK/US collaboration which could support an expected UK investment in space weather research over the next five years. All of the US agencies were very positive about future collaboration, and several potential areas of joint work were defined. The challenge now is to put some detail behind these intentions, which is why I am proposing group discussions at both CEDAR and GEM. The theme seems to match very clearly to the core challenge in the decadal survey, namely that the improved scientific understanding of the mechanisms and processes in the space environment should be harnessed to "enhance greatly the capability to provide realistic and specific forecasts of Earth’s space environment that will better serve the needs of society".
In terms of resources, the potential investment from the UK could be up to $12M, though this has still to be finalised. There may be some matching resources from the US side, and the UK program may be arranged in such a way as to complement US activities. Discussion of specific plans, timescales and methods of progress monitoring will be the main aim of the session.