Met Office to predict space weather

The UK's forecasting agency will branch out to studying distant layers of the atmosphere in an attempt to better understand the impact that the Sun's activity has on Earth. By extending its focus from 60 miles to 380 miles (90-600km) above ground, weathermen hope to deliver earlier and more accurate predictions of how storms on the Sun will affect our GPS, radio and power systems. The region they will study includes the thermosphere, a layer of the atmosphere where space weather is more noticeable as the Earth's magnetic field repels streams of charged particles expelled by the Sun. Last month there were fears that a giant solar flare would wreak havoc on airline schedules and power grids as it shot large clouds of particles directly towards Earth. Although the effects were largely cancelled out by the magnetic field, such events have the potential to seriously impact the Earth and are expected to become more common as the Sun enters the most active stage of its 11-year cycle. Speaking at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester Dr David Jackson of the Met Office said: "Space weather can affect the aviation and power industries, as well as a whole range of activities that rely on GPS timing and positioning, radio communication or satellite-based observations." The Met Office has also announced it will make its climate models available to Exeter university academics to help them explore what atmospheric conditions might be like on other planets. Two years ago the weather service announced it would stop publishing its traditional seasonal forecast after a stream of headlines announcing "barbecue summers" and "mild winters" proved completely wrong. Explaining its decision at the time, the Met Office said the science was too inexact to give an accurate long-range forecast and its statistical predictions were being exaggerated by the media.