How space weather impacts Earth, and the team safeguarding us

Our planet can be profoundly affected by conditions in space, and a dedicated team is working to safeguard us.

Richard Stone's forecasting group operates continuously, every day of the year.

Within the Met Office headquarters, specific monitors in one section of the control centre display detailed images of the Sun.

Operating here around the clock, every day of the year, is a space weather prediction unit, one of only a few globally.

Space weather events have the capacity to fundamentally alter our lives on Earth. Critical technologies such as GPS, power infrastructure, and satellites are susceptible to fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field.

Consequently, the Met Office has enlisted the expertise of researchers from Aberystwyth University to enhance their capabilities in forecasting space weather.

In the Met Office control room, specialists monitor activity occurring on the Sun's surface.

The Sun's activity is the primary driver of space weather, with phenomena like solar flares, which are powerful emissions of radiation, serving as key examples.

The United Kingdom government has designated severe space weather as a critical item on its National Risk Register.

An assessment by Lloyds in 2025 estimated that a major space weather incident could incur a global economic cost of 2.4 trillion dollars ($2,400,000,000,000) over a five-year period.

The Met Office has been collaborating with vital infrastructure operators since 2014, aiming to protect against these impacts by generating forecasts using both ground-based equipment and satellites in orbit.

Richard Stone, a member of the space forecasting group, explained that this work enables them to identify any occurrences on the Sun's surface, issue predictions, and notify relevant stakeholders to implement preventative measures.

Stone remarked that the current technology, while impressive, was still in its nascent stages.

He stated that although significant progress had been made since 2014, observational data remained limited.

Despite detecting an event on the Sun's surface approximately three days before its arrival, there are no further observations until it reaches satellites situated about one million miles away.

This provides scientists with roughly an hour to more accurately forecast its precise impact on Earth and, if necessary, alert partners about the mitigation strategies required to prevent disruptions.

Stone likened the situation to detecting a storm on America's East Coast but then having no further observations until it reaches Ireland.

The agency has enlisted the support of a research collective, spearheaded by Aberystwyth University, to refine its forecasting capabilities.