Reference · built on requestCommons signalWeather & climate

NOAA SWPC Space Weather Products

Solar wind, X-ray and proton flux, Kp, NOAA scales, alerts, and 3-day and 27-day outlooks from the Space Weather Prediction Center.

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About

The Space Weather Prediction Center, a National Weather Service center under NOAA, forecasts conditions on the sun and in near-Earth space. It rates them on three scales: G for geomagnetic storms from the Kp index, S for solar radiation storms from proton flux, and R for radio blackouts from X-ray flux, each from level 1 to 5. Its products are published as files at services.swpc.noaa.gov: alerts.json, noaa-scales.json, noaa-planetary-k-index.json, real-time solar wind under json/rtsw, GOES flux under json/goes, and text forecasts such as 3-day-forecast.txt and 27-day-outlook.txt.

Through Fibric, an operator watches the scale levels and alerts and proposes what to do when they rise: defer a change, brief a crew, or expect GPS and HF radio trouble.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from NOAA SWPC Space Weather Products and what it could propose, based on the publisher's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • Current and forecast NOAA scale levels from products/noaa-scales.json
  • Alerts, watches, and warnings as issued, from products/alerts.json
  • Planetary K-index observed and forecast from noaa-planetary-k-index.json and noaa-planetary-k-index-forecast.json
  • Real-time solar wind speed and magnetic field (Bt, Bz) under json/rtsw, and GOES X-ray, proton, and electron flux under json/goes
  • Text forecasts: 3-day-forecast.txt, 3-day-geomag-forecast.txt, 27-day-outlook.txt, 45-day-forecast.txt, and the WWV geophysical alert wwv.txt
  • The 30-minute auroral forecast from ovation_aurora_latest.json and ICAO space weather advisories from icao-space-weather-advisories.json

Proposed actions

Read-only. This feed informs operators; it changes nothing.

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Hold reserves through a geomagnetic storm watch

    A G3 or higher watch in alerts.json and the 3-day geomagnetic forecast reach the operator before the storm does. It proposes generator checks and fuel top-ups for the sites you flag as grid-sensitive.

    With Storm Reserve

  • Freeze risky changes during a radio blackout

    R3 and above means wide HF radio loss on the sunlit side. The operator proposes a freeze on field radio and satellite-dependent changes until the scale drops, and records the alert.

    With Change Freeze

  • Explain GPS drift on the route log

    When a route wanders and the R or S scale was raised at the time, the operator attaches the scale values to the deviation and proposes whether to count it against the driver.

    With Route Deviation

  • Tell a crew what to expect

    When SWPC issues a G4 or G5 alert, the operator drafts a notice for the sites you name with the scale's stated power and navigation effects, and waits for your send.

    With Severe Weather Notice

Requirements

  • A polling schedule; the estimated Kp product refreshes every minute while the index itself is a three-hour value
  • A mapping from G, S, and R levels to the systems you run: power, GPS, HF radio, satellite links
  • Parsers for both JSON arrays and fixed-format text, since the forecasts and outlooks are text files
Authentication
None. The files at services.swpc.noaa.gov are public HTTPS downloads; email notifications need an account on the Product Subscription Service at pss.swpc.noaa.gov.

Limits

  • Kp is a three-hour index from eight ground magnetometers; the minute-by-minute value is an estimate
  • The scales describe expected effects for a level, not observed impact at any one site
  • The JSON products hold recent values; archived alerts sit at ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/alerts, and long histories come from NCEI
  • Products are files in directory listings rather than a versioned API with a schema

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Public feed access is separate from Fibric integration. If you request this feed, your quote covers the build, usage, and support.

Request NOAA SWPC Space Weather Products ↗

Questions and answers

What do G, S, and R mean?
They are the NOAA Space Weather Scales. G rates geomagnetic storms from Kp 5 (G1) to Kp 9 (G5). S rates solar radiation storms from the flux of protons at 10 MeV and above, 10 (S1) to 100,000 (S5). R rates radio blackouts from X-ray flux, M1 (R1) to X20 (R5).
How current is the Kp index?
The planetary K-index is a three-hour value derived from eight ground magnetometers in Alaska, Canada, Virginia, the UK, Germany, and Australia. SWPC's estimated Kp product refreshes every minute. Kp of 5 or more indicates a geomagnetic storm.
Can I be notified instead of polling?
Yes. The Product Subscription Service at pss.swpc.noaa.gov sends alerts, watches, warnings, and forecasts by email within moments of issue, including flare, geomagnetic, electron flux, and proton flux products. The JSON and text files remain the way to read values into a system.
Ask about NOAA SWPC Space Weather Products

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This Commons signal listing is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. It reads public data published by NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (services.swpc.noaa.gov). Upstream agencies and projects are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy