Conveners: Magnus Wik; Andrew Dimmock

Description:As the Arctic undergoes technological expansion, it is emerging as a new frontier for space weather challenges. Space weather is becoming increasingly important to society due to many factors that impact technology and human activity. Although the scientific understanding and mitigation of space weather hazards are a global challenge, they are becoming increasingly crucial for end users in the Arctic regions. Increasing human activity in high-latitude regions—driven by commercial operations, scientific activities, military operations and auroral tourism—has led to growing reliance on critical infrastructure. This makes the Arctic vulnerable to space weather hazards such as geomagnetically induced currents, HF radio disruptions, GPS inaccuracies, and space debris risks during rocket launches. This round table will bring together key stakeholders to discuss the impacts of space weather in the Arctic and the challenges faced by end users and service providers. Participants will share their perspectives on operational risks, the need for scientific advancements, and the role of service providers in mitigating space weather hazards to ensure the resilience of current and future Arctic infrastructure and operations in this rapidly evolving technological landscape..

Conveners: Gina DIBRACCIO; Beatriz SANCHEZ-CANO; Fabrice CIPRIANI

Description:Understanding space weather at the Moon, Mars, and beyond is essential for future robotic and human exploration. Recent availability of relevant data throughout the inner heliosphere have made it possible to develop new predictive capabilities and assess the impact of solar activity on these planetary environments. New assets and observations on the lunar surface make it possible to understand space weather effects on the local environment and technology. The current fleet of spacecraft at Mars, both on the surface and in orbit, provide opportunities to analyze the evolution of solar transients out to 1.5 AU and track the impact of these events from the planetary space environment down to the surface. Collaborations across international space agencies and various missions have enabled the exploration of space weather at the Moon and Mars. Research and operational space weather capabilities are rapidly emerging, and future opportunities are being identified. These opportunities include recognizing and filling data, infrastructure, and forecasting needs; developing and validating models; and more. This plenary session will discuss recent advancements in assessing and predicting space weather at the Moon and Mars, as well as other planetary environments, by utilizing available data and simulations. The session will also identify areas where development and growth are needed (e.g., models, observations, technologies) to enhance our understanding of space weather impacts on different planetary environments and improve our forecasting capabilities. The session will particularly highlight the recent May 2024 solar events, which were observed to directly impact the lunar and martian environments by multiple spacecraft at various vantage points.

Conveners: Agnieszka Gil-Świderska, Piers Jiggens

Description:We’re delighted to introduce a new feature at this year’s ESWW: Plenaries Showcasing Parallel Sessions. These two special plenary sessions will highlight standout contributions from the parallel programme. Each session will feature two distinguished presentations, nominated by the conveners of the originating parallel session. This is an opportunity for selected presentations to gain enhanced visibility and recognition and to promote the originating parallel session to a broader audience. By highlighting these talks in a plenary setting, we aim to celebrate excellence across the programme and encourage cross-disciplinary engagement. Presenting authors whose contributions are selected will be formally recognised by the Programme Committee and awarded a certificate of distinction. Each session will include two talks, 25 minutes each including Q&A..

Conveners: Monica Laurenza, Jaroslav Urbář

Description:We’re delighted to introduce a new feature at this year’s ESWW: Plenaries Showcasing Parallel Sessions. These two special plenary sessions will highlight standout contributions from the parallel programme. Each session will feature two distinguished presentations, nominated by the conveners of the originating parallel session. This is an opportunity for selected presentations to gain enhanced visibility and recognition and to promote the originating parallel session to a broader audience. By highlighting these talks in a plenary setting, we aim to celebrate excellence across the programme and encourage cross-disciplinary engagement. Presenting authors whose contributions are selected will be formally recognised by the Programme Committee and awarded a certificate of distinction. Each session will include two talks, 25 minutes each including Q&A..

Conveners: Paolo PAGANO; Clementina SASSO; Ioannis KONTOGIANNIS; Hanna STRECKER

Description:Magnetic Sources of Space Weather Across Solar Atmospheric Layers. Space weather is largely driven by the drastic and sudden evolution of magnetic structures in the Sun. Sometimes such transients lead to the sudden release of magnetic energy in the form of radiation or mass ejections. In other cases, newly formed or emerging structures alter the equilibrium of a magnetic complex, triggering eruptions. While the study of the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere remains a significant challenge for observations and models, understanding these mechanisms is essential to improve our space weather prediction capabilities. Magnetic structures, such as flux ropes, filaments/prominences and coronal loops form as part of active regions and along polar inversion lines. These structures evolve dynamically across the layers of the solar atmosphere, from the photosphere to the corona, and their evolution can culminate in eruptive events. Many theories based on observations (from new instruments such as PHI, EUI, METIS on-board Solar Orbiter) or numerical simulations have been put forward to explain how they trigger space weather events. Moreover, such mechanisms in the solar corona are the only close and observable examples of several plasma processes (e.g. magnetic reconnection or magnetic confinement) that hold the key to a deeper understanding of plasma physics. In this session, we will host contributions that show the current state of the art of observation and modelling of the solar atmosphere that illustrate the role of these magnetic structures and how their evolution affects space weather and how they can be used to help to improve our forecasts.

Conveners: Karmen Martinic; Manuela Temmer; Guram Kervalishvili; Rute Santos

Description:The extreme space weather events of Solar Cycle 25 highlight the urgent need for a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to understanding solar-Earth interactions. This session aims to bring together experts from solar and heliospheric physics, as well as magnetospheric, ionospheric, and atmospheric physics to investigate the formation, propagation, and impacts of solar storms. By studying the magnetic connectivity and dynamics of the source regions leading to solar flares, and eruptions accompanied by the solar energetic particle events, we seek to understand how solar activity influences interplanetary space and interacts with the planetary environment. The propagation of coronal mass ejections and their interactions within the heliosphere are crucial for assessing the extent of space weather disturbances. The session will also address the broader space implications of these extreme events, as the impact of geomagnetically induced currents on engineering infrastructure remains an important topic for space weather mitigation strategies. We encourage you to submit abstracts on events covering all aspects of space weather, from the Sun to the Earth, and their impacts on other planetary environments. We welcome modeling and observational studies. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, this session aims to improve our understanding of space weather as a system-wide phenomenon and strengthen links between research communities.

Conveners: Ravindra DESAI; Sarah Glauert; Adnane Osmane; Alex Lozinski

Description:The inner magnetosphere hosts a dynamic range of plasma populations including the relativistic radiation belts, the ring current and cold plasmaspheric ions. These populations are tightly coupled via a range of micro-, meso- and macro-scale processes, driving a complex interplay of acceleration, transport and loss. For example, chorus waves are generated by injected plasma sheet electrons and then accelerate 100’s keV electrons to relativistic energies to form the radiation belts, with this acceleration being most efficient in regions of low plasma density. In turn, precipitation of radiation belt particles into the atmosphere balances ionospheric outflows of cold plasma into the inner magnetosphere. Further research into these and other cross-scale couplings is essential to develop the capability to reliably forecast inner magnetospheric dynamics and associated space weather risks and impacts. This session calls for observational, modelling and theoretical studies related to the inner magnetospheres, as well as review papers and mission concepts as well as comparative studies with other magnetospheres. We invite observational contributions from current missions such as Arase, Themis, MMS and GPS, from ground-based facilities such as EISCAT, SuperDARN and VLF receivers, and from historical datasets such as from the Van Allen Probes, Cluster and climatological studies involving even earlier solar cycles. We invite numerical contributions spanning Fokker Planck simulations, kinetic simulations of wave-particle interactions, and of the global magnetosphere and its couplings to the ionosphere and solar wind, as well as novel machine learning approaches and solutions.

Conveners: Daria KOTOVA; Lucilla ALFONSI; Guram KERVALISHVILI; Alan WOOD

Description:The session focuses on the state-of-the-art understanding of the complex mechanisms ruling the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere (M-I-T) coupling and how they translate into space weather impacts. Such an understanding is fundamental for the developing effective countermeasures against disruption, failure and deterioration of vulnerable technologies, including GNSS critical applications, HF/VHF/UHF radio communications and LEO satellite operations. It is essential to improve the prediction of both the underlying physical phenomena and how these are related to space weather impacts. This improved understanding is crucial for better forecasts, warnings, and mitigate measures for adverse space weather effects. Other crucial aspects of M-I-T coupling are the interhemispheric symmetric/asymmetric response to variable drivers, vertical coupling and coupling between different latitudinal regions which, if properly predicted, could support regional space weather modelling. This session seeks to encourage and foster dialogue between researchers studying the underlying physical phenomena and operators seeking to mitigate space weather impacts. As such, contributions are invited which address any aspect of M-I-T coupling and associated threats to systems at regional and global scales.

Conveners: Claudio CORTI; Kalevi MURSULA; Barbara PERRI; Ilya USOSKIN

Description:Space weather and space climate have their origin in the Sun's magnetic field, which forms the continuously changing plasma environment in the heliosphere. Long-term observations of the Sun over the past few centuries have identified variations of the solar activity on different time scales, the most prominent ones being the 11-year sunspot cycle and the centennial Gleissberg cycle. Understanding and forecasting solar activity and the conditions in the heliosphere, including their effects to the Earth, is a major challenge in the field of heliophysics. The last decade has seen a lot of progress in solar activity modeling and in developing predictive capabilities, and there is a large diversity of forecasts using multiple methodologies. In addition, different communities and end-users have different needs about the cadence, lead time, and accuracy of the forecast parameters. This session aims to discuss the current capabilities and challenges in understanding and forecasting of long-term solar activity and related heliospheric and terrestrial effects for time scales of a few solar rotations onward. Possible forecast parameters include, e.g., sunspot numbers, total and spectral irradiance, open heliospheric flux, radio fluxes, galactic cosmic rays, extreme solar energetic particles, coronal holes, high-speed solar wind streams, coronal mass ejections, geomagnetic activity, GICs, magnetic storms, ionospheric parameters (foF2, etc), polar vortices, sudden stratospheric warmings, etc. We invite talks and posters from all these space weather and space climate domains, from the Sun to geospace, discussing their current understanding and long-term forecasting, new observations, theories and models, forecasting methodologies, and validation efforts.

Conveners: Sabrina GUASTAVINO; Dario DEL MORO; Filipa S. BARROS; Kamen KOZAREV

Description:Space weather forecasting can rely on either physics-based or data-driven approaches. On the one hand, physics-based methodologies have deeper historical roots, with physical equations being studied and applied to model solar events and better understand unknown physical processes. On the other hand, data-driven approaches and, specifically, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms process multi-modal data to identify patterns/correlations with no (or little) reference to physical models. However, it has been recently explored the possibility to combine both approaches, by leveraging physics to inform the machine learning methods, and applying machine learning to better estimate key parameters in MHD deterministic equations. This session aims to provide a platform for sharing and discussing research on data-driven and hybrid approaches combining physics-based and AI methodologies in space weather studies, with a focus on forecasting applications. Topics include predicting solar phenomena driving space weather, such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs), as well as modeling CME and SEP propagation to estimate arrival times at Earth, and predicting geomagnetic disturbances. Additionally, submissions on space weather-related forecasting applications are encouraged, such as identifying and classifying active regions and detecting solar structures. As AI techniques have reached a high level of maturity, and recent studies have demonstrated that combining AI with physics-based approaches holds great promise offering reliable tools for space weather forecasting, coupled with the fact that solar activity is currently at its peak (when eruptive phenomena are more frequent and intense) the topic of the proposed session is particularly timely.

Conveners: Stephan G. HEINEMANN, Eleanna ASVESTARI

Description:The structure of the heliospheric background solar wind is shaped by the interaction between slow and fast wind streams. These interactions give rise to stream interaction regions (SIRs) and co-rotating interaction regions (CIRs), which can lead to shocks, compression- and rarefaction regions—key contributors to minor and moderate geomagnetic activity. A deep understanding of solar wind dynamics, along with the surrounding magnetic field and their origins, is essential for improving the accuracy of space weather predictions. This session focuses on current research related to the origin, evolution, and space weather effects of slow and fast solar wind. Observations from recent missions like the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and Solar Orbiter (SolO), along with long-standing missions such as the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories (STEREO), provide valuable data to refine and expand our knowledge in this field. We invite contributions exploring various topics, including the sources and acceleration mechanisms of slow and fast solar wind, stream interactions, and the magnetic and plasma structure at the source surface and in the inner heliosphere. Additionally, we welcome studies that integrate observational data with modeling to advance our understanding of solar and heliospheric physics in the context of space weather forecasting.

Conveners: Theodosios Chatzistergos, Laure Lefèvre, Ilya Usoskin

Description:The Sunspot Number (SN; Clette and Lefèvre, 2016 ) and Group Number (GN; Chatzistergos et al., 2017) series are the only direct time series (1610- present) that trace the long-term variations of solar activity over the past centuries. These records are crucial not only for solar/stellar physics and space weather studies but also for assessing the Sun's influence on Earth's climate. While modern observations provide better links with space weather effects, SN and GN remain the longest direct observations of solar activity, and thus, are an indispensable bridge linking past and present solar behavior. In 2016, an international team led a major update of the existing SN/GN series. However, issues remain and a decade after the release of SN version 2.0, efforts to refine sunspot calibrations continue, leading to several new versions of GN (Clette et al., 2023). Current work is focused on updating the GN database (following Vaquero et al., 2016), culminating in the development of a new SN database for historical data and the subsequent reconstruction of GN and SN, paving the way for version 3.0. This session welcomes presentations on all aspects of historical sunspot observations, including (but not limited to) analyses of characteristics of the sunspot series, performance of cross-calibration techniques, recovery and correction of historical sunspot records, and also comparisons of sunspot series with other solar activity indices. By exchanging ideas, through presentations and discussions, we can strengthen our collective effort to make both time series more accurate, understandable and accessible to the scientific community.

Conveners: Cameron PATTERSON; Juliane HÜBERT; David BOTELER; Magnus WIK

Description:The increasing reliance on technology-driven transportation systems makes the sector highly vulnerable to space weather impacts. Intense solar storms can disrupt GNSS-based navigation, degrade HF and satellite communications, interfere with avionics, and even induce currents in railway infrastructure potentially leading to disruption or harm. Historical impacts, such as railway signalling anomalies in Sweden during a storm in July 1982 and the degradation in positional accuracy of GPS farming equipment for precision agriculture during the May 2024 Gannon storm, highlight the real-world impacts of geomagnetic disturbances on transportation systems. With the approaching solar maximum, understanding these vulnerabilities and developing mitigation strategies is more critical than ever. This session aims to bring together academics and industry stakeholders to showcase the latest research in space weather impacts on transportation. We invite contributions that assess operational risks, historical case studies, forecasting advancements, and resilience strategies. The session will serve as a platform for interdisciplinary discussion and understanding. Many of these systems are interdependent, and disruptions are likely to occur simultaneously across the board, emphasising the need to foster collaborations between sectors. This is a timely opportunity to highlight regional case studies and global challenges alike. Due to its high latitude, transportation systems in the Arctic, where reliable transport is essential for both local communities and expanding industries, may be more prone to geomagnetic disturbances even during less intense periods of solar activity. Therefore, this session is especially relevant to the theme for this year’s ESWW.

Conveners: Martin REISS; Barbara PERRI; Karin MUGLACH; Evangelia SAMARA

Description:Progress in space weather research and forecasting depends on an accurate assessment of our current modeling capabilities. As space weather models become more complex and sophisticated, and play an increasingly important role in operational forecasting, the need for an improved validation infrastructure becomes clear. To enable meaningful model validation, this infrastructure must be based on comprehensive, reproducible, and consistent validation protocols. Developing these protocols requires community-wide initiatives to agree on essential physical properties, events or time periods, and metrics. Therefore, close collaboration between scientists, model developers, forecasters, and software engineers across space weather domains is needed.

In this session, we welcome contributions that highlight:

• Progress in validating and verifying space weather and space science models;
• Use of multi-spacecraft observations for model validation;
• Development of software, tools, and repositories that facilitate open validation;
• Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in space weather model validation;
• Strategies for (near) real-time validation of space weather models and forecasts;
• Community challenges and initiatives.

Conveners: Giovanni SANTIN; Aiko NAGAMATSU; Thomas BERGER

Description:As agencies and private enterprises around the world look to embark on an era of enhanced exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, so the need to understand better the radiation environment in transit and at the destinations of these missions is likewise enhanced. The near-term target for many missions is the Moon, the long-term horizon is Mars. Strategies to raise heavy spacecraft (elements) include electric orbit raising, due to the improved fuel efficiency but this can result in components spending time in the heart of the Earth's radiation belts. The accelerated "new space" approach applied to many robotic missions compared with previous exploration and science missions may result in components which may be susceptible to the environment. Humans travelling beyond the magnetically shielded confines of the Earth's magnetosphere will be exposed to a very different radiation field. The combination of risks to humans and to spacecraft components along with the need for very high reliability places stringent requirements on such missions. Requirements include both climatological understanding of the average and extreme environments as well as space weather forecasts for issuing of alerts both prior to launch and during mission operations. This session welcomes abstracts for future exploration missions including:

• radiation monitoring of exploration mission environments
• radiation environment modelling 
• radiation storm forecasting
• simulation of surface radiation fields on the Moon and Mars
• simulation of the radiation inside spacecraft and modules
• effects of radiation on components and biological systems
• systems to support mission operations

Conveners: Gabriella STENBERG WIESER; Sofia BERGMAN; Charlotte GOETZ

Description:Many objects in the solar system lack an intrinsic magnetic field, for example some planets, moons, comets, and other small bodies. The interaction of these objects with the solar wind is fundamentally different to the interaction of the solar wind with magnetized bodies such as the Earth. This session will focus on space weather effects on the surface, atmosphere and space environment of such bodies. Topics include, but are not limited to, the response to a varying space weather and the effects of extreme solar events on the surface, atmosphere, and plasma environment. We also invite abstracts discussing the influence of the space environment on spacecraft operation and scientific instrument performance close to these bodies. We welcome abstracts addressing these topics using a variety of methods, including laboratory experiments, numerical modelling and observations.

Conveners: Matthew West; Jeffrey Newmark; Steph Yardley; Hannah Schunker

Description:The ESA Vigil mission will be the first dedicated space weather mission positioned at the L5 Lagrange point, providing a unique vantage point for continuous monitoring of solar activity and interplanetary space. By complementing observations from Earth’s perspective, Vigil will enable improved early warning capabilities for space weather forecasting and operational decision-making. The mission’s six baseline instruments—four dedicated to remote sensing and two for in-situ measurements—will deliver high-quality, low-latency observations from the solar surface, through the corona and heliosphere, and in situ — to enhance both real-time space weather services and solar physics research. Although primarily designed as an operational mission, Vigil will provide unprecedented high-cadence science data from a unique perspective that will transform our understanding of space weather, from the Sun’s magnetic field evolution at the surface to solar atmosphere processes that drive space weather events. A critical aspect of mission readiness is engaging with both operational and scientific communities to refine data products, develop new analytical tools, and enhance Vigil’s impact. This session focuses on strategies for fully exploiting the unique opportunity that Vigil presents. We welcome contributions incorporating L5-oriented research, especially those that combine multiple datasets with other current and upcoming missions, as well as new models, tools, and analysis techniques.

Conveners: Lenka ZYCHOVA; Christine VERBEKE; Laure LEFEVRE

Description:The aurora is one of the most captivating natural phenomena, serving as both a visual spectacle and a powerful tool for engaging the public in space weather science. Its beauty sparks curiosity, providing an accessible entry point for discussions on solar activity, geomagnetic storms, and their broader impacts on Earth. This session will explore how the aurora is used as a bridge between complex scientific concepts and public understanding. We invite scientists, educators, and outreach professionals to share their projects, experiences, and strategies for using the aurora to communicate space weather. Topics may include innovative educational initiatives, public engagement programs, citizen science projects, and the role of artistic and cultural interpretations in science communication. How can we leverage the public’s fascination with the aurora to increase awareness of space weather’s relevance to modern society? What methods have been most effective in turning curiosity into deeper understanding? With Sweden offering frequent and spectacular auroral displays, this session provides a unique opportunity to discuss how this natural wonder can be used to inspire and educate diverse audiences. By exchanging ideas, we can strengthen our collective efforts to make space weather more accessible, inspiring, and impactful for diverse audiences.

Conveners: Judith DE PATOUL; Francois-Xavier BOCQUET; Mpho TSHISAPHUNGO; Kasper VAN DAM

Description:Extreme space weather events can severely impact critical infrastructure, from power grids and pipelines to GNSS, aviation, and satellite systems. To reduce risks, it is essential to establish an effective bridge between operational space weather forecasting centers and end-users, one that relies not only on scientific expertise but also on robust systems, service infrastructure, and clear communication channels. This session invites contributions that explore how space weather services are developed, implemented, and delivered to support real-world decision-making. Topics of interest include the design and operation of systems that link forecasting centers to end-users, such as data delivery chains, alert mechanisms, and operational resilience protocols. We also welcome insights into how dissemination standards and procedures have evolved, including tailored alert protocols for sectors like civil aviation, satellite operations, energy, and GNSS. Presentations may address user experiences with accessing and applying space weather information via web portals, APIs, or customized platforms, as well as approaches to enable two-way communication: ranging from impact reporting and feedback loops to co-development of tools and services. Case studies are encouraged that show how coordination between forecasters and users has led to timely mitigation actions during major space weather events. We also encourage reflections on lessons learned from past storms, highlighting how experiences have shaped operational workflows, tools, and partnerships. The overarching aim is to understand how space weather services can evolve to be more integrated, interoperable, and responsive, ensuring end-users receive information that is timely, relevant, and actionable in high-impact scenarios.

Conveners: Shane Maloney; Sophie Murray; Paul Wright; Anna Massone

Description:Machine learning (ML) has shown promise in solar flare forecasting, yet major challenges remain in moving beyond single studies often published without the associated code and datasets. Are forecast models truly reproducible, deployable, operable, updatable, and monitorable? It has been nearly a decade since the influential work of Bobra & Couvidat (2015), where Support Vector Machine (SVM) was used to predict solar flares using features derived from solar magnetic field observations, what progress has been made? While the field has made strides in improving flare forecasting, little to no progress has been made in ensuring the reproducibility, deployment, and sustained operation of ML models. As models become increasingly complex, how can we guarantee that their results are reproducible and transparent? How do we ensure that models remain accurate as new data becomes available and do not degrade over time? The traditional approach of publishing research papers—often without the accompanying code, data, or reproducibility frameworks—is no longer sufficient. To truly advance the field, we must move beyond current academic practices and adopt best practices from ML and meteorology, which have well-established methodologies for real-time prediction systems. This includes: Reproducibility: Establishing standardized benchmarks, dataset and model versioning, and open-source implementations. Deployment: Models must be easily deployed from zero to a running deployment with as little human intervention as possible. Operation: Ensuring once deployed models can easily be run in research or operational environments and they are robust to missing data, latency, and changing solar cycle conditions. Updates: Implementing retraining strategies to include new data and prevent model degradation over time. Monitoring: Developing frameworks for continuous evaluation, explainability, and reliability of forecasts. We must leverage platforms like Hugging Face, Kaggle, Comet, Neptune, WandB and open source solutions like MLFlow to facilitate transparent and collaborative development. The space weather community must also engage MLops, automated retraining pipelines, and robust monitoring tools to transition ML-based forecasting from one off publications to an operational reality. This session invites submission focusing on the use or implementation of any of the above aspects and interdisciplinary approaches to move ML-based space weather forecasting from promise to practice.

Conveners: Adur Pastor Yabar, Kseniia Golubenko, David Themens, Anna Morozova

Description:This session welcomes submissions on topics not covered under the remaining sessions. These submissions can be on any topic as long as they relate to Space Weather and Space Climate.

Conveners: Michaela BRCHNELOVA, Judith DE PATOUL, Steven DEWITTE, Lisa ROSENQVIST

Description: As military operations increasingly depend on GNSS, satellite communications, HF radio, and surveillance assets, understanding and mitigating the impact of space weather has become essential for operational readiness. Especially the arctic regions have now become interesting as a result of the opening of new shipping routes and the security question of Greenland, and these are the regions most susceptible to space weather effects. However, most space weather services today are designed with civil users in mind, and there is a growing gap between scientific outputs and actionable military needs. This panel forum will explore the specific requirements of the defense community, from NATO partners to national armed forces, for tailored space weather support. It will highlight existing practices (e.g., UK Met Office, USAF, JMG/STCE collaboration), identify operational needs in areas such as forecasting, system vulnerability assessment, and training, and discuss how to move from physical space environment monitoring to mission-relevant, impact-oriented products.

Key questions include:

• What are the most critical defense use cases affected by space weather?
• How can we translate forecasts into platform-specific operational risks?
• What infrastructure and standards are required to support autonomous, secure defense operations under space weather influence?
• What are the current gaps in space weather services as perceived by defence users? The session encourages active participation to clarify shared needs, foster civil-military cooperation, and help shape future space weather services that are operationally relevant to defense actors.

Conveners: Véronique DELOUILLE, Daria SHUKHOBODSKAIA, Sophie A. MURRAY, Suzy BINGHAM

Description: Space weather services are essential for sectors like satellite operations, GNSS, aviation, energy, and crewed spaceflight, where accurate forecasts help prevent costly disruptions. As their use grows, these services must be validated for real-world operations, transparent in their methods, and trusted by users. This session explores the full validation process, from research to operational deployment, emphasizing how end users benefit every step of the way. We will examine practical questions such as which frameworks and metrics best measure the quality and reliability of space weather services. We’ll look at ways to compare models and products across different operational centers and how to clearly communicate uncertainty and confidence to users. The session will cover key performance tools - like scoreboards, maturity indices, and Key Performance Indicators - that track forecast accuracy, latency, and false alarms. We will also focus on evaluating resilience during significant storm events and the role of user feedback in confirming a product’s effectiveness. By uniting researchers, operators, and end users, this session aims to show how thorough validation builds trust, supports informed decision-making, and drives the development of flexible, user-driven space weather capabilities.

Conveners: Fabrice CIPRIANI, Iannis Dandouras, Yoshifumi FUTAANA

Description: This TDM complements the P2 Mars - Moon Space Weather plenary session (Gina di Braccio et al), with a particular focus on the Lunar environment.
The Moon’s surface offers a unique vantage point to characterize the solar wind, solar energetic particles, magnetospheric environments and interaction processes with airless bodies surfaces, and provides access to in situ resources. It is also a designated exploration target for ongoing and future institutional and private / commercial lunar missions, that will need to operate and survive accounting for highly variable space environment conditions. In this context we propose to organise a discussion around some key questions such as (but not exhaustively) :

1- Which operational scenarios, missions and instruments could provide key space weather observations from the lunar surface and lunar orbit ?
2 - What could we learn from the May 2024 Solar storm observations in terms of impact to the lunar environments ?
3 - What synergies would be necessary between future space based lunar missions and Earth-or solar system based observations to maximise humans and systems safety in lunar exploration ?
4- How can the space weather community and investigations support and help mitigate the risk for human activities at the lunar surface ?

Conveners: Alexander Mishev, Agnieszka Gil

Description: Over several decades the global neutron monitor (NM) network provides continuous records of cosmic ray (CR) variations. NMs have been extensively used as the main global multi-instrument tool for the analysis of a specific class of strong solar particle events, namely ground level enhancements (GLEs) in which solar ions are accelerated to quasi and relativistic energies, leading to sudden increases of count rates of particle detectors at the surface of the Earth. GLEs are particularly strong SEP events with imminent space weather effects. In addition, NMs are used for the registration of Forbush decreases and recently observed anisotropic CR enhancements (ACREs). 2024 was a particularly interesting year with three GLEs, a notable Forbush decrease and ACRE reported. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the applications of the global NM network for space-weather purposes, including alerts for GLEs, aircrew dose assessment and monitoring services. The session is devoted to recent works related to all aspects of space weather, focusing on the application of NMs for study transients and the related space weather phenomena. Special focus will be given to recent advances of modeling of transients, nowcasting of aircrew dose exposure, specifically during GLEs. The applications of the global NM network measurements and outputs within satellite-born instruments, as well as, other ground based detectors, which provide complementary information to NM records and can be used to unfold open issues as e.g. spectra evolution during GLEs are relevant to this session.

Conveners: Maria Elena INNOCENTI,Jorge AMAYA, Stefaan POEDTS

Description: This TDM aims to connect forecasters with modelers, researchers, and end-users to begin bridging the gap of the O2R pipeline. There is a disconnect in communications between operational forecasters and researchers, especially those not already included in an R2O2R pipeline which has had a significant impact on model development and progress in the space weather forecasting field. What is interesting from a scientific point of view might not be relevant for a specific space weather impact/user need/use case. An open and transparent pipeline from scientific investigations to space weather impacts would make fund allocation more efficient for modelers, so they could focus resources/efforts on model capabilities most relevant to end-users needs. Some of the key questions to ask during this TDM include: What products/tools would make your life easier as a forecaster? What feedback from the forecasters to model developers would be most helpful to improve models/tools? What communication style and/or products are most helpful to end-users? By answering these questions and offering this platform, we aim to spark advancements in space weather forecasting and foster meaningful conversations that drive the future development of related products and tools. Target audience (max 100 words) The target audience includes operational space weather forecasters, the scientific community including modelers, software developers, researchers, PhD students, and end-users who rely on operations.

Conveners: Maxime GRANDIN, Aurélie MARCHAUDON, Véronique DELOUILLE

Description: There is growing evidence for climate change to have a significant impact on ground-based observations of space weather and space climate, especially in high-latitude regions. The list of impacts includes long-term atmospheric changes affecting radio wave propagation, more extreme weather events that can disrupt observations, thawing of the permafrost affecting the stability of observatories, changes in cloud cover hindering optical observations, and more. While some of these impacts have been documented, most remain largely unknown or are rarely mentioned. This TDM, which is organised by the E-SWAN Sustainability Working Group, aims at sharing some examples but also, and foremost, collecting testimonies from the audience. Our objective is to raise awareness of these impacts and pave the way for a document that could provide a global view of the numerous (and often unsuspected) consequences of climate change on scientific activities. The format will be that of a panel forum, targeting all users of infrastructure, especially in high-latitude regions.

Conveners: Sarah BEECK, Tibor DURGONICS

Description: The reliability of navigation and positioning services in the Arctic is increasingly critical for maritime operations, aviation, infrastructure development, and emergency response. These applications are all vulnerable to space weather disturbances, which primarily affect the ionosphere and, consequently, the performance of GNSS-based technologies. This Topical Discussion Meeting (TDM) aims to bring together researchers, industry stakeholders, and end users to explore the synergies between GNSS radio occultation (RO), GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R), and ground-based GNSS observations. By integrating these complementary data sources, we aim to discuss how to enhance ionospheric monitoring and modeling capabilities in the Arctic region, where conventional observation networks are sparse and space weather effects can be severe.

Conveners: Carina ALDEN, Claudio CORTI, Krista HAMMOND

Description: The goal of this TDM is to present, to the European space weather community, the computer modelling roadmap produced by the ESA Space Weather Office . This strategic document, endorsed by international experts in the domain, will be used to plan the space weather modelling activities of ESA for the next years. This will be an opportunity for the community to provide feedback and to weight in the topics covered by the roadmap. The conveners will share the document before the ESWW so all the community will have the option to prepare their intervention in the TDM. Convener 1 will provide an introduction to the document with only a few slides. The conveners will then give the floor to two or three of the experts that endorsed the document to hear their opinions and to answer questions from the public. The conveners will provide context to the discussions. Additional live interaction is expected with the use of interactive smartphone apps gathering questions, suggestions, and keywords.

Conveners: Alexi GLOVER, Alice MICHEL

Description: In the 12 years since its initial establishment, the ESA Space Weather Service Network has developed into a well-established platform enabling many aspects of R2O2R with associated processes in place to demonstrate and test new capabilities with service end users in the loop. The current Space Weather Service Network constitutes an important step towards European operational services, providing a coordinated framework for development, facilitating engagement between the European space weather expert community and end users, demonstrating capability and providing a clear path between early-stage concept and pre-operational implementation. This TDM will reflect on some of the key successes of the SWESNET project initiated in 2021, bringing together the SSCC and all five Expert Service Centres into a single project for the first time and underpinning a substantial development in service capabilities. With end user needs developing in areas such as arctic exploitation and cis-lunar safety along with funding for the next period of the Space Safety Programme set to be decided at the upcoming ESA Council at Ministerial level in November, discussion will then focus on high priority next steps and how the network will continue to build on the successes of the SWESNET project, strengthening the network’s R2O2R approach and improving user access to targeted information, whilst also preparing the community for evolution as new operational activities begin.

Conveners: Phil Quinn, Athanasios Papaioannou, Rami Vainio

Description: High-energy solar energetic particle (SEP) events pose significant risks to space-borne and ground-based technologies and human spaceflight. Accurate detection and model validation of these events—particularly above ~100 MeV—remain complex tasks, hampered by instrumental limitations, event variability, background variations, and signal contamination. This topical discussion meeting will bring together researchers and stakeholders to discuss the current state of SEP model predictions at high energies, the cross-calibration of instruments, the standardization of event lists, and the integration of new data sources. The latter includes high-resolution satellite measurements and ground-level enhancement (GLE) observations. Emphasis will be placed on recent methodological advances, machine learning applications, and coordinated international efforts to improve consistency across datasets. The goal is to identify gaps, refine validation criteria, and enhance the reliability of high-energy SEP catalogs, paving the way for improved space weather forecasting. This TDM is co-convened by SPEARHEAD (GA No 101135044) and SOLER (GA No 101134999) Horizon Europe projects.

Conveners: Jesse Andries, Kirsti Kauristie, Joaquim Costa, Mpho Tshisaphungo

Description: One of the key aspects of the mission of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), to facilitate worldwide cooperation on monitoring and predicting changes in weather, climate, water and other environmental conditions, is to promote globally coordinated observations and enable global exchange of observation data. The WMO framework for these activities is called the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS), as it deals with all relevant observation data, including those for Space Weather services. An effort is currently undertaken to update the “Vision for the WMO Integrated Global Observing System in 2050” (see previous version at https://library.wmo.int/viewer/57028). The timeline works towards an approval through the WMO Infrastructure Commission in 2026 and Congress in 2027, with currently an ideal time window for the community to contribute to and help shape this Vision. This document intends to present a likely scenario of how user requirements for observational data may evolve over the next 25 years, and an ambitious, but technically and economically feasible vision for an integrated observing system that will meet them It includes both space- and surface-based instrumentation, involves public as well as private and commercial sector actors and addresses are relevant application areas, including Space Weather. A first draft of the updated document will be presented and feedback and input from the Space Weather community is requested. Apart from inputs on the technical content we also, and above all, welcome any suggestions that can help to make this document more useful for the Space Weather community. Questions and consideration of relevance to the Vision include: the expected evolution of requirements for Space Weather applications, technological evolution and innovation (such as H/W, Data, AI), observing systems plans and capabilities (surface and Space), expected evolution of public/private sectors in this field, evolution of the importance of Earth and Space Weather Observations to society. This is an opportunity to align WMO’s vision with that of the Space Weather community, to address any related concerns, and to assure that the document can be leveraged by the community.

Conveners: James Spann, James Favors, Melanie Heil

Description: Space Weather observations are the backbone of all space weather services and science. Currently many new missions are in development that will provide crucial additional data to improve space weather forecasting, such as ESA’s Vigil mission going to L5. In a community discussion we would like to discuss and get feedback on further improvements: What other key observation points should be targeted by upcoming missions to achieve clear advances in forecasting lead times or accuracies? What is the low latency data stream that we currently do not have, but if we did, would provide a substantial advancement for space weather forecasting? We will introduce a few new concepts under discussion and open the floor for community ideas and needs.

Conveners: Stefaan Poedts, George Miloshevich, Ekaterina Dineva, Panagiotis Gonidakis

Description: There is a growing demand in the space weather community for the analysis of large datasets, due to availability of data from space missions and numerical simulations. To keep pace, the community is using off-the-shelf algorithms, adapting models from computer science. These models offer valuable opportunities to improve space weather services, e.g. forecasting capabilities. Other important applications include automatic detection and segmentation of areas of interest, where machine learning algorithms provide greater flexibility and efficiency compared to traditional methods. Furthermore, such algorithms can be implemented in ground-based facilities and spacecraft for on-board automation and maximizing the retrieval of scientifically interesting data. Given the volume of publications of AI in space weather, the community should come up with better practices for standardization of data and methods to facilitate unbiased comparisons between the models. Importantly, transitioning AI from research prototypes to tools used by space weather centers requires trust, uncertainty quantification, validation and explainability. In this TDM, we raise the following questions: 1.) What are the fundamental challenges of producing trustworthy forecasting of space weather events using AI? 2.) What are the best practices for automatic detection and annotation of space weather events? 3.) Can AI not only detect events but also assess their importance and trigger high-resolution data capture for selective downlink.

Conveners: Stefan KRAFT, Mehdi SCOUBEAU

Description: As part of the Space Safety Programme, ESA’s Space Weather Office is preparing a small satellite mission for monitoring the Auroral Oval (AO) for operational space weather applications. This mission will be part of ESA’s Distributed Space Weather Sensors System (D3S), which has the purpose of monitoring the interaction of the Earth with the Sun and to assess and measure the actual conditions in the proximity of the Earth. Monitoring of the aurora is an important element of enhanced space weather nowcasting and forecasting capability since it enables the observation of the impact of the solar wind and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) on Earth’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. The impacts may trigger geomagnetic storms and sub-storms when hitting the Earth. Auroral emissions (optical, far-UV and X-ray) are a direct manifestation of physical processes occurring when the magnetosphere responds to the solar wind and CME plasma streams. It is planned to launch a demonstration mission in the time frame 2030/2031 that shall pave the way towards an operational system consisting of a constellation of 4 satellites that would be launched about 2-3 years later.

The topical discussion will focus on the following questions:

• Which potential new services and products can be established by using the observational data of the mission?
• Which possible enhancements of existing services can be envisaged? • Which developments would have to be carried out to enable future service and product provisions.
• What improvements in terms of the expected data quality or mission requirements are desirable for the identified services or product.
• Which observational capabilities are desirable in terms of monitoring specific features or events in different space weather conditions (e.g. substorm monitoring, global mapping capabilities, pointing strategy).

Conveners: Mamoru ISHII, Tobias VERHULST, Ivan GALKIN

Description: It is essential to have global cooperation in ground-based observation for space weather phenomena because no one can cover the observational area all over the world by oneself. Many organizations have been discussing the establishment of international cooperative relationships, data sharing, and standardization of formats. However, there have been few successful examples. GION, Global Ionosonde Observation/operation network has been established on January 2025 for promoting communications among ionosonde operators and data users. This action comes from the discussion in the International Space Weather Coordination Forum held on November 17, 2023 at WMO headquarter, Geneve. In TDM, the aim of GION will be introduced and have talks from some members but spend more time for discussion about what we can and what we should.

Conveners: Alexi GLOVER, Quentin VERSPIEREN, Sacha BRESSOLLETTE

Description: This TDM will focus on a lively discussion of current innovation models and their application to the Space Weather domain building on real case studies and lessons learned. The TDM builds on the outcomes of the panel event held during ESWW2024 titled “Towards Space Weather Operational Governance in Europe: Lessons Learned from Natural Hazard Management”. Among the key takeaways highlighted by the panel of experts was the importance of finding a middle ground between open and directed innovation and the clear need for boosting commercial dynamics. Building on these conclusions, this year ESA has launched several initiatives: an Innovation Journey, starting with an ESA Hack (Hackathon) offering a structured two-day programme to drive innovation and develop proof-of-concepts targeting the domain of space weather services for Spacecraft Operations; and an enabling study geared towards assessing market readiness and opportunities for commercial downstream services in other maturing domains. This TDM will discuss these initiatives along with other innovation models being successfully deployed in different sectors to accelerate the use of space data in downstream contexts. It will assess how such models may further contribute to the development of relevant, tailored space weather services along with service adoption by end-users. In this context, the Innovation Journey winning team will be invited to present their experience and their planned next steps. Discussions will then focus on assessing the value of such innovation-oriented initiatives and considering what role they may play in supporting development of the space weather service landscape in Europe.