Abstract

Italian teams have been involved many times in Space Weather observational campaigns from space and from the ground, contributing in the advancing of our knowledge on the properties and evolution of the related phenomena. Numerous Space Weather forecasting and now-casting modeling efforts have resulted in a remarkable add-on to the overall progress in the field, at both national and international level. The Italian Space Agency has participated several times in space missions with science objectives related to Space Weather; indeed, an important field for the Italian scientific and industrial communities interested in Heliophysics and Space Weather, is the development of new instrumentation for future space missions. In this paper, we present a brief state-of-the-art in Space Weather science in Italy and we discuss some ideas on a long-term plan for the support of future scientific research in the related disciplines. In the context of the current roadmap, the Italian Space Agency aims to assess the possibility to develop a national scientific Space Weather data centre to encourage synergies between different science teams with interest in the field and to motivate innovation and new mission concept development. Alongside with the proposed recommendations, we also discuss how the Italian expertise could complement international efforts in a wider international Space Weather context.

Highlights

  • Italian teams have been involved many times in Space Weather observational campaigns from space and from the ground, contributing in the advancing of our knowledge on the properties and evolution of the related phenomena

  • Ground-based observations have been an important resource for numerous studies in the field of Space Weather science

  • We provided a series of recommendations toward an in-depth understanding of the scientific aspects behind Space Weather, taking into consideration the existent observational and modeling capabilities supporting Space Weather research in Italy

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Summary

Introduction: science case and scope of this roadmap

Circumterrestrial Space Weather (often referred to, as “Space Weather”) has its main origin at the Sun being driven by the solar activity (e.g., flares, Coronal Mass Ejections – CMEs) and characterized by its effects in the Earth’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. It is important to mitigate the risks of Space Weather impacts on technology, infrastructure, navigation, health and human activities, based on: our knowledge of the physics of the Sun, the interplanetary space, the Earth’s environment (magnetosphere, ionosphere, atmosphere) and its interior, and their coupling at long and short timescales; the use of scientific research products for the development of reliable systems for Space Weather forecasting originating, preferably, from multi-data observations. The associated discipline aims, through observation, monitoring, analysis and modeling, at understanding and predicting the state of the Sun, the interplanetary and planetary environments, and the solar and non-solar driven perturbations that affect them; and at forecasting and now-casting the possible impacts on biological and technological systems” Based on this definition, and from a wider perspective, Space Weather refers to the entire Solar System.

State-of-the-art in Space Weather science in Italy
Major recent and on-going projects related to Space Weather
Ground-based infrastructures
Ground-based Space Weather assets
Ground testing of space systems
Space-based instrumentation for the observation of the solar atmosphere
Charged particle detectors
Space-based instrumentation for Planetary Space Weather measurements
Add-on science with interdisciplinary payload
Key challenges of Space Weather research
Roadmap’s detailed recommendations
Observational and theoretical research recommendations
Maintenance of existing facilities
Study of space mission concepts and deployment of new instrumentation
Solar corona imaging to investigate Coronal Mass Ejections and the solar wind
VIS–NIR polarimetry for photospheric and chromospheric diagnostics
ENA imaging as a tool for monitoring planetary
ENA imaging for the investigation of SEP sources on the Sun
In-situ measurements of plasma properties
Space Weather studies with stratospheric balloons
Teaming and Collaboration
Findings
Conclusions

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