STORMS

Background / description

STORMS (Solar Terrestrial ObseRvations and Modeling Service) is a public service that provides analysis tools, numerical models and catalogues useful to the scientific community carrying out fundamental research in heliophysics as well as researchers and end-users involved in space weather.

The products delivered by STORMS are useful:

• to perform studies in heliophysics and space weather,
• to study and model the influence of solar activity on the near-Earth environment, as well as on the planets or any other body in the solar system (comets, asteroids, spacecraft, …)

Objectives

The main objectives of STORMS are:

• to produce advanced catalogues of solar/heliospheric structures. The production of these catalogues is based on the detailed analysis of remote-sensing observations and in situ data. They can involve for example the analysis of multi-point imaging to derive the 3-D structure of solar wind structures such as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs).
• to connect different databases and web-based interfaces (CDPP AMDA, MEDOC, APIS, SAMP, JHelioviewer) by developing advanced data-analysis tools that can exploit and connect a broad range of observational data, including in-situ measurements and remote-sensing observations.
• to provide new space-weather models and make them available to the scientific community and end users. Some of the models provide predictions of the properties of CMEs and CIRs at any point in the inner heliosphere including the Earth
• to support the operations of space missions. These forecasting tools are designed to help with deciding the pointing of remote-sensing instruments on Solar Orbiter (and other observatories) to support multi-instrument studies within the Solar Orbiter mission. The tools are also used regularly to prepare multi-instrument studies with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP).

Involvement of IRAP

The STORMS service is developed and coordinated by IRAP researchers and engineers. IRAP is responsible for the development and maintenance of the service in close collaboration with other services such as CDPP and MEDOC and international working groups such as ESA’s Modelling and Data Analysis Working Group (MADAWG).

Partners

• INSU and OMP by Observatoire Virtuel Grand Sud-Ouest
• CNES with the financement of tools as the Propagation Tool and the Space-Weather Tool
• This service is also funded by programs as FP7, H2020, ERC, ANR, ESA-SSA.