Space Weather Group (SWE)
Space Weather Group (SWE)
The Sun as observed by the SWE H-alpha telescope
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Space Weather Station managed by SWE research group
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SWE group is providing the Spanish Space Weather Service at www.senmes.es
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Geomagnetic disturbance map of the Iberian Peninsula during a geomagnetic storm
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Pic legend 1: The Sun as observed by the SWE H-alpha telescope
Pic legend 2: Space Weather Station managed by SWE research group
Pic legend 3: SWE group is providing the Spanish Space Weather Service at www.senmes.es
Pic legend 4: Geomagnetic disturbance map of the Iberian Peninsula during a geomagnetic storm

General information

Universidad de Alcalá

Description

The Space Weather (SWE) group focuses on understanding the Sun–Earth connection and developing advanced solutions to protect technological infrastructures, strengthening society’s resilience against solar activity. We combine observations, numerical models, and artificial intelligence to predict solar phenomena and their terrestrial impacts. Our own monitoring infrastructure enables real-time data acquisition, immediate processing, and the delivery of reliable space weather services.
Our team brings together experts from diverse backgrounds: physicists (covering all stages from the Sun to the Earth), engineers, and artificial intelligence specialists. This multidisciplinary synergy allows us to integrate physical knowledge, advanced modeling, data-driven insights, and engineering innovation to address the scientific and operational challenges of space weather.
SWE has been officially recognized by the University of Alcalá as a High-Performance Research Group, a distinction awarded to teams with outstanding scientific excellence and impact.

Summary of Research Services

We provide a complete chain of operational observation and forecasting products, covering the entire Sun–Earth system. Our services integrate proprietary data with information from space agencies and international organizations to deliver accurate and timely space weather insights.
Through the Spanish Space Weather Service (SeNMEs, www.senmes.es), SWE offers nowcasting and forecasting along the full Sun–Earth chain. We are also the first Spanish expert group participating in the ESA Space Weather Service Network (https://swe.ssa.esa.int/), where we contribute specialized products such as regional geomagnetic disturbance maps for the Iberian Peninsula, warnings of adverse space weather conditions, and short-term forecasts of geomagnetic indices using artificial intelligence.
In addition, we provide consulting services for companies and institutions on any space weather-related activity, including forensic analysis of events.

Technology Capabilities

The SWE group combines advanced tools, infrastructure, and expertise to deliver cutting-edge space weather services and research aimed at building a resilient society. Our technological capabilities span the entire Sun–Earth chain, integrating observation, modeling, and artificial intelligence.
A key technological achievement of the group is a patented method (European Patent 3 441 794 B1) for calculating local geomagnetic disturbances in real time. This innovation enables the generation of Local Disturbance Index (LDi) maps with high spatial and temporal resolution. We have also developed the LDi-meter, a dedicated instrument created in collaboration with GMV, which can be deployed at any location to monitor local magnetic conditions.
We operate a GNSS monitoring station to assess the performance of satellite navigation services and analyze ionospheric effects on signal integrity. Our radio telescope detects solar radio bursts that can interfere with GNSS and air traffic control radars. Additionally, we use a custom-built VLF antenna to monitor ionospheric conditions during solar flares.
Leveraging AI, we predict fast solar wind streams and track solar filaments as drivers of geomagnetic storms, while running neural network models for real-time forecasting of global geomagnetic indices up to six hours ahead and local disturbance conditions up to two hours in advance. Some of these capabilities are already integrated into operational services such as the Spanish Space Weather Service (SeNMEs) and the ESA Space Weather Service Network (ESA SWE Portal).

Main equipment or Facilities

The SWE group manages a comprehensive set of instruments at the UAH Space Weather Station, including:
• Spider 300A radio telescope (3 m antenna) for solar radio burst observation at 1.420 GHz.
• Lunt 152 mm H-alpha solar telescope for monitoring solar activity.
• GNSS and VLF antennas for ionospheric and navigation signal analysis.
• Magnetic station equipped with a LEMI-031 fluxgate magnetometer and a prototype LDi-meter for local geomagnetic disturbance monitoring.
Our computational infrastructure includes multiple scientific workstations, two high-performance computers with RTX3090 GPUs for neural network training, and a dedicated server with 256 cores, 1 TB RAM, and 40 TB storage for large-scale data processing.

Contracts for Big Science facilities

No registered contracts

Relevant R&D projects

[ESA’s Space Safety Programme (S2P), subcontracted by Airbus Defence and Space, S.A.U.] Pre-Phase A of Radiation Belt Monitoring from GTO (SWORD ) (2024 - 2025)
In this project SWE analyzed the measurement requirements of the mission Space Weather Orbital Radiation Detector (SWORD) and consolidated the measurement requirements in a consistent set of specifications. We also provided support on the definition of the payload of the mission based on the consolidated measurement requirements.
[ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Period 3 Programme] SSA P3-SWE-XXXVII SWE Products for Southern Europe - Phase 1 (PROSE ) (2022 - 2024)
SSA P3-SWE-XXXVII SWE Products for Southern Europe - Phase 1 (PROSE) was an ESA-funded project lead by the SWE-UAH team. Among the achievements can be mentioned the development of new regional products on geomagnetic conditions and their integration into the SWE Service Network at Level 2. Also, we propose ionospheric products tailored to GNSS Southern European region users ready to provide real-time data. Users were engaged in this project since the beginning and considered in the design process of the products.
[ESA’s Space Safety Programme (S2P) Period 1, subcontracted by Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy] Space Weather Service Network Development and Pre-Operation Part 1 (SWESNET ) (2021 - 2025)
Within this project, SWE group undertakes to perform the Pre-Operational Services provided by the University of Alcalá to the ESA Space Weather Service Network according to the Service Level Agreement. SWE is also contributing to the Space Weather Service Network Evolutionary Maintenance.
[Programa Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento y Fortalecimiento Científico y Tecnológico del Sistema de I+D+i, Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020] Towards Warning of INteraction with Active Sun (ToWINActiveSun ) (2021 - 2024)
ToWINActiveSun has enabled significant progress in understanding solar activity and its consequences, as evidenced by more than a dozen publications in scientific journals and nearly 50 conference presentations. Key results include: (1) the discovery of the importance of circular polarization in 1.4 GHz radio bursts for space weather; (2) the detection of the first solar ejection embedded within the sheath of another; (3) the discovery of a new mechanism for solar wind energy entering the Earth's environment; (4) the demonstration that magnetic disturbances observed at mid-latitudes, known as double H-spikes, are the remote effect of field-aligned currents; and (5) the development of AI-based codes for the detection, classification, segmentation, and tracking of solar filaments, for predicting solar wind speed at L1, and for predicting the SYM-H and ASY-H indices.
[ESA’s Earth Observation Science for Society, subcontracted by Deimos Space] Synergetic use of SMOS L1 Data in Sun Flare detection and Analysis (SMOS Flares ) (2019 - 2023)
Synergetic Use of SMOS L1 Data in Sun Flare Detection and Analysis (SMOS-FLARES) was an ESA-funded project aimed at developing a systematic retrieval of the Sun Brightness Temperature in L-band from SMOS Level 1 data and evaluating its potential as a solar radio observatory. Our responsibilities included data validation, exploration of use cases in space weather and solar physics, definition of user requirements, and engagement with the relevant user community. Given the promising results of the project, but also in light of the limitations of relying on residuals from the SMOS solar corrections, ESA approved a Contract Change Notice to support the development of a dedicated SMOS product for space weather and solar physics. In this extended phase, our role encompassed defining the test dataset and data formatting, guiding product development, calibrating and validating the data, and assessing its scientific impact. The project was led by Deimos Space Romania. In addition to project reports, SWE produced two peer-reviewed publications (with two more currently in preparation) and contributed to over 15 scientific conferences. More relevant topics include the impact of solar radio bursts on GNSS, and the characterization of solar coronal mass ejections and active regions
[ESA EXPRESS PROCUREMENT (EXPRO+)] P3-SWE-XXIII-Space Weather User Needs for the Mediterranean Region (SWEMED ) (2019 - 2020)
The work completed within this contract, and summarized in the Final Report, evidences that Mediterranean users have specific needs regarding Space Weather that need to be covered in a near future. Almost one hundred among customer, system or product requirements change recommendations have been proposed to ESA tailoring the needs of Mediterranean users. Then we tried to evaluate the SWE Service Roadmaps and the SWE Development Plans against these requirements, but none of these documents included any information regarding Mediterranean region as more regional ESA SWE products are focused in Fennoscandia region. Then additional information was searched from the SSA SWE Network Service Product Catalogue Summary and the Asset Database. Important data gaps have been identified in the current service structure of the SWE Network which prevent full regional service provision and tailoring for users of Mediterranean region. Other assets and capabilities not currently contributing to the SSA SWE Service Network are proposed to fill the identified gaps and critical items have also been identified. With all the previous inputs, the main outcome of this contract is an overall roadmap towards the provision of fully tailored service for the Mediterranean region where the more urgent issues are highlighted.
[Programa Estatal Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia. Proyectos de I+D – EXCELENCIA] Connecting solar Active Region Research and Interplanetary aNalysis to Ground Terrestrial disturbances for accurate fOrecasting and Nowcasting (CARRINGTON ) (2016 - 2020)
The CARRINGTON project has enabled significant progress in understanding solar activity and its consequences, as evidenced by more than a dozen publications in high-impact scientific journals and over 40 conference presentations. Key results include: (1) the discovery of the importance of solar emission at 1.4 GHz and the potential of the SMOS mission for space weather and heliophysics; (2) the identification of parameters related to the probability of a solar flare occurring and whether or not it will be eruptive; (3) new arguments to explain the physical phenomenon that allows the solar wind to escape the corona; (4) the demonstration that the most significant local geomagnetic disturbances occurring during extreme events are going unnoticed by the scientific community, or when they are known (as in the Carrington Event), their origin is being misinterpreted; and (5) the proposal of new geomagnetic indices to address these problems, as well as their prediction using artificial intelligence.

Big Science Areas

Astronomy

Technology Areas

Information and Communication Technologies