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Lesson 3 Summary

The NOAA Space Weather Product Tool is a quick reference that shows which NOAA space weather products are available at the WMO Portal and indicates the different industry and customer groups that the products support. Many space weather products support multiple user groups, and all user groups can benefit from multiple products.

The NOAA space weather products fall within two main categories forecasts and nowcasts/alerts.

  • Forecasts are estimates of the likelihood of major space weather disturbances.
  • Nowcasts indicate current conditions, and alerts are issued when measured values (such as X-ray flux, solar proton flux, and geomagnetic activity) cross defined hazard thresholds.

The NOAA Scales describe five levels of activity for common space weather disturbances:

  • Radio Blackouts (based on measured X-ray flux),
  • Solar Radiation Storms (based on measured solar energetic protons),
  • and Geomagnetic Storms (based on variability of the geomagnetic field).