The NASA SWORD Space Weather Center of Excellence: a template for modern space weather research
The Space Weather Operational Readiness Development (SWORD) center is one of three NASA space weather centers of excellence initiated in 2023 for a 5-year effort. In this talk we begin by outlining the modern challenges of space weather research, emphasizing the need to develop accurate and reliable predictive systems for a complex, non-linear, multi-scale environment that can be used in operational settings to provide actionable intelligence to end users. We then describe how the SWORD center of excellence addresses the particular challenge of predicting the space environment in low Earth orbit (LEO) with the goal of providing improved thermospheric density forecasts for satellite operators and space traffic coordination services. SWORD consists of three tracks of research: Track 1 conducts research into coupling upper atmospheric models to magnetospheric models with an emphasis on ionospheric electrodynamic specification for improved predictions of geomagnetic storm response; Track 2 focuses on developing data assimilation methods for the upper atmosphere with an emphasis on transitioning the methods to the operational JEDI framework; and Track 3 focuses on machine learning research to both improve and greatly accelerate predictive modeling of space weather drivers and the upper atmospheric environment. Together these tracks address the three challenges of modern space weather prediction research: improved physics-based modeling, data assimilation to enable predictive capability, and data-driven methods that have the potential to revolutionize how we forecast complex non-linear environmental systems.
Dr. Thomas (Tom) Berger received his bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics from the University of California Berkeley and his Ph.D. degree in Applied Physics/Astrophysics from Stanford University. He then worked for 15 years at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, California, where he led the ground-based solar observing program, the internal research and development of advanced imaging spectropolarimetry instrumentation, and was a Co-Investigator on the Focal Plane Package of the Japanese/US/UK Hinode mission from its inception in 1999 until 2012. In 2012 he joined the National Solar Observatory as the Project Scientist for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (now the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope) where he helped finalize the science program and operations modes. In 2014 Tom joined the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado as Director - a role which exposed him to the challenges of operational forecasting and end-user engagement for the first time. While at SWPC, he served as a member of the White House Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation task force, contributing to the initial version of the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan. Following his time at NOAA, Tom helped establish the Space Weather Technology, Research, and Education Center (Space Weather TREC) at the University of Colorado Boulder where he served as the Executive Director from 2018 to 2025. In 2025, Tom joined NCAR/HAO as the Director of the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, which he envisions as evolving into the Mauna Loa Space Weather Observatory.