Illustrative: dipole field lines compressed by the solar wind, the magnetopause and the auroral ovals

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Hazards, Disasters and Resilience

Hazard Science

Space weather and extraterrestrial hazards

Space weather and extraterrestrial hazards, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Space weather and extraterrestrial hazards: foundations and practice

This area covers hazards that originate beyond the Earth: solar flares, coronal mass ejections and geomagnetic storms, and their effects on power grids, satellites, navigation and aviation, together with near-Earth objects and planetary defence.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Solar cycle 25 peaked around 2024 to 2025, and the geomagnetic storm of 10 to 11 May 2024 was the strongest in over two decades (G5), disturbing GNSS-guided farm machinery and satellite drag while grids held, a live test of operational space weather preparedness. NOAA SWPC, Solar cycle progression, 2025

Learning outcomes

  1. Define coronal mass ejection and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain solar flares, coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particles and geomagnetic storms and the NOAA scales with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against geomagnetically induced currents in power grids, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Solar flares, coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particles
    • Solar flares, coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particles
    • Geomagnetic storms and the NOAA scales
    • Geomagnetically induced currents in power grids
  2. Effects on satellites, GNSS and high-frequency radio
    • Effects on satellites, GNSS and high-frequency radio
    • Radiation at aviation altitudes
    • Space weather forecasting and solar wind monitors at L1
  3. Near-Earth objects, impact probability and the Torino scale
    • Near-Earth objects, impact probability and the Torino scale
    • Planetary defence and the asteroid warning network
    • Preparedness for severe space weather
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • A coronal mass ejection's speed sets how many hours an operator has; the storm's rate of change of the magnetic field, through the ground's resistivity, induces a geoelectric field; the network geometry turns that field into a direct current in transformer neutrals; the current against a withstand limit sets the operating decision.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Pulkkinen et al., Geomagnetically induced currents: science, engineering, and applications readiness, 2017
  2. Tsurutani, Gonzalez, Lakhina and Alex, The extreme magnetic storm of 1–2 September 1859, 2003
  3. Riley, On the probability of occurrence of extreme space weather events, 2012
02Live map

Earth observation in the Andes

Land cover, vegetation, snow and sea ice, with true-colour imagery one switch away, over the Andes.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Earth observation

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Earth observation, framed on the Andes.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • GHRSST Level 4 MUR analyses, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (10 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
  • Enhanced vegetation index, rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra EVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Snow cover: VIIRS NOAA-20 NDSI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Sea ice concentration: GHRSST MUR, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

What is changing, with standards and evidence

Space weather and extraterrestrial hazards: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed space weather and extraterrestrial hazards between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Space weather and extraterrestrial hazards: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Solar cycle 25 peaked around 2024 to 2025, and the geomagnetic storm of 10 to 11 May 2024 was the strongest in over two decades (G5), disturbing GNSS-guided farm machinery and satellite drag while grids held, a live test of operational space weather preparedness. NOAA SWPC, Solar cycle progression, 2025

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in space weather and extraterrestrial hazards since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce the Sun to the ground on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. The Sun to the ground
    • Flares, coronal mass ejections and high-speed streams
    • Scales: NOAA G, S and R scales
    • Forecast products and lead times (WSA-Enlil, L1 monitors)
  2. Impacts on systems
    • Geomagnetically induced currents in power grids
    • Ionospheric scintillation, GNSS and HF radio
    • Satellite drag, charging and launch losses
  3. Reasonable worst cases
    • Carrington and 1921 benchmarks
    • National risk register scenarios
    • Grid standards for geomagnetic disturbance
  4. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  5. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • Drones, Earth observation, machine learning forecasting and cell broadcast warnings.
    • Telecom and positioning failure, and AI-generated misinformation in a crisis.

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 5 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. NOAA SWPC, Solar cycle progression, 2025
  2. UK Government, Space weather preparedness strategy, 2021
  3. Pulkkinen et al., Geomagnetically induced currents: science, engineering, and applications readiness, 2017
  4. Tsurutani, Gonzalez, Lakhina and Alex, The extreme magnetic storm of 1–2 September 1859, 2003
  5. Riley, On the probability of occurrence of extreme space weather events, 2012
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Coronal mass ejection

A large release of magnetised plasma from the Sun that can drive a geomagnetic storm when it reaches the Earth.

Term

Geomagnetic storm

A disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere, graded G1 to G5 on the NOAA scale.

Term

Geomagnetically induced current

A quasi-direct current driven in long conductors such as power lines by a changing geomagnetic field.

Term

Kp index

A planetary index from 0 to 9 of geomagnetic activity over three-hour intervals.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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