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A new space weather variation hazard index, developed by ���ճԹ� researchers using data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Swarm satellite constellation, provides a near-real time, global picture of geomagnetic variations to spot the local effects of space weather.

Space weather can pose significant hazards to satellites and Earth-based technologies. Infrastructure and technology, including global navigation satellite systems, telecommunications and power grids can be disrupted by strong geomagnetic activity.

ESA’s three Swarm satellites, which measure changes in Earth’s magnetic field from space, can capture geomagnetic anomalies related to space weather all over the world. Whilst they do not offer the continuous time coverage at a single location that a ground station can offer, the trio’s global coverage provides our best-ever survey of Earth’s magnetic field.

Until recently, the data processing pipeline meant that Swarm data was only made available after four days, preventing its use in space weather hazard monitoring. That all changed in 2024 with the introduction of a FAST data processing chain, which makes a lot of the mission’s data available in close to near-real time – as quickly as three hours after measurement.

The new space weather hazard variation index developed by Lauren and colleagues at the ���ճԹ� draws on over ten years of Swarm data. Using the mission’s long-term record of Earth’s geomagnetic field as a baseline, it is possible to spot sudden variations that depart strongly from the normal or expected level of variation.

All space weather scientists want real-time, global geomagnetic field data. Swarm data isn’t quite real time yet, but it’s getting closer. We wanted to make sure the techniques were available to make use of the FAST data so that it would be available to space weather scientists in the future.

A big geomagnetic storm might be obvious, but if there was just a little blip over the Atlantic Ocean, and perhaps some aircraft was struggling to communicate, we could use this index to check if there was something more localised that could explain the drop in communications.

Lauren Orr, space weather scientist at ���ճԹ�.

Space weather monitoring is precisely the sort of application we had in mind for Swarm FAST data, and it is wonderful to see it being used so effectively. It’s another great example of the applications and benefits the Earth Explorer satellites bring to Europe and the rest of the world.

Anja Strømme, Swarm Mission Manager.

To read the full update on the new hazard index, please visit the .