Researchers at Northumbria University in the UK have been awarded £4m (US$5.4m) to investigate the behavior of Earth’s radiation belts, with the aim of improving space weather forecasting and satellite protection.

The five-year project, funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), will examine why radiation belts can change rapidly and remain difficult to predict.

Radiation belts are regions around Earth where charged particles are trapped by the planet’s magnetic field. Their intensity and size can vary dramatically over just hours or days due to solar activity, but scientists currently cannot predict their behavior.

The project will be led by Clare Watt, professor of space physics at Northumbria University, and will combine spacecraft data from international missions with advanced computer modeling to better understand how energy moves through Earth’s magnetosphere.

Continue reading Northumbria University secures £4m to study Earth’s radiation belts at Meteorological Technology International.

The Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) in Hawaii has resumed full operations more than three years after a volcanic eruption cut off road access to the site.

Operated by the US National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR), the observatory had been largely inaccessible since Mauna Loa erupted in November 2022, blocking the main access route with lava flows.

With the road now rebuilt, MLSO is returning to normal operations, including daily on-site staffing, and is set to support NASA’s Artemis II mission by providing early warnings of hazardous space weather.

The observatory, established in 1965 on the slopes of Mauna Loa, is positioned to deliver high-altitude solar observations with minimal atmospheric interference.

Continue reading Mauna Loa Solar Observatory reopens to support Artemis II mission at Meteorological Technology International.

Researchers at the US National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) say that they have developed a new tool capable of advancing the forecasting of space weather, so that events could be projected weeks in advance instead of just hours.

The breakthrough could bring significant benefits to agencies and industries, mitigating impacts to GPS, power grids, astronaut safety and more.

The research team’s newly published research highlights a tool they developed called PINNBARDS (PINN-Based Active Regions Distribution Simulator), which they say is capable of bridging surface observations of solar active regions and deep solar magnetic dynamics.

Continue reading NCAR researchers create breakthrough tool to enhance space weather prediction at Meteorological Technology International.

NASA has made a new real-time data stream from its Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) observatory available to support space weather research and forecasting.

The IMAP spacecraft launched on September 24, 2025, and has recently entered orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point. From this position, it can monitor solar and interstellar conditions and transmit measurements that are important for operational space weather forecasting.

Five in situ instruments aboard IMAP are providing continuous measurements that are transmitted in near real time through the low-latency IMAP Active Link for Real-Time (I-ALiRT) data stream. The system is designed to support both scientific research and operational forecasting by providing rapid access to solar wind and energetic particle data.

Continue reading NASA makes IMAP real-time space weather data link available at Meteorological Technology International.

China’s Sun-Earth L5 Solar Exploration Project, known as Xihe-2, has officially entered its implementation phase following a launch meeting and scientific symposium held on January 31, 2026, at Nanjing University (NJU).

The event brought together senior representatives from academia, government and industry, including Tan Zheming, president of NJU and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Zhang Chunming, deputy director of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. Also in attendance were Fang Cheng, CAS academician and professor at NJU’s School of Astronomy and Space Science; Peng Wei, deputy director of the First System Engineering Department of the China National Space Administration (CNSA); and representatives from multiple research institutions involved in the project.

Continue reading China’s Xihe-2 Sun-Earth L5 solar exploration project officially launches at Meteorological Technology International.

Solar activity appears to be entering a declining phase following a solar maximum in 2024 and 2025, according to the UK Met Office. The change is part of the sun’s regular 11-year solar cycle, which moves from one solar maximum to the next.

Although the number of sunspots on the sun’s surface is now showing a downward trend, the Met Office said this phase does not signal an end to impactful space weather. Recent aurora sightings as far south as northern Italy highlight that significant solar events can still occur during the decline.

Solar activity drives space weather, which is monitored and forecast by the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC) to help critical sectors manage potential impacts from severe events.

Continue reading Sun enters declining phase of solar cycle, but strong space weather still possible, says Met Office at Meteorological Technology International.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has reported that it has been closely monitoring a severe space weather event triggered by an intense X5.1-class solar flare observed on November 11, 2025. The flare, which peaked at 10:04 UTC, was followed less than an hour later by a coronal mass ejection (CME) traveling at an estimated 1,500km/s.

The CME reached Earth late at night on November 12, triggering a severe geomagnetic storm, but the ESA stressed that there was no direct biological risk to humans thanks to Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. 

“The geomagnetic storm is estimated to continue at severe levels and may impact satellites, power grids and navigation systems,” said Juha-Pekka Luntama, head of ESA’s Space Weather Office on November 12.

Continue reading ESA “actively monitoring” severe space weather event following powerful solar flare at Meteorological Technology International.

Scientists in the UK and the Netherlands have launched into the atmosphere a new type of radiation monitor designed to improve space weather forecasting.

On October 17, radiation sensors developed by the University of Surrey were attached to weather balloons and released from Met Office sites in Camborne and Lerwick in the UK, and from Dutch forecasters KNMI’s site in De Bilt in the Netherlands. The balloons climbed to more than 100,000ft feet, capturing live observations on radiation levels through the atmosphere as they moved toward the stratosphere.

The launches mark a proof-of-concept phase in a project to enhance models that predict radiation changes during space weather events.

Continue reading Met Office makes “huge leap forward” in space weather monitoring at Meteorological Technology International.

The UK Met Office has unveiled a “pioneering” space weather forecasting system that, for the first time, enables operational modeling of the Earth’s upper atmosphere – marking what the organization describes as a “major breakthrough” for UK atmospheric science.

Developed under the UKRI-funded Space Weather Instrumentation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk (SWIMMR) program, the new Advanced Ensemble Networked Assimilation System (AENAS) provides real-time forecasts of how space weather affects the ionosphere and thermosphere.

Built at the University of Birmingham in collaboration with Lancaster, Leeds, Bath and Leicester universities and the British Antarctic Survey, the system is now running on the Met Office’s new supercomputer.

Continue reading Met Office launches space weather modeling suite for upper atmosphere forecasting at Meteorological Technology International.

China successfully launched the Fengyun-3H meteorological satellite (FY-3H) using a Long March 4C carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu on September 27.

The satellite is a new member of the FY polar-orbiting meteorological ‘afternoon satellite’ family, with a payload configuration and performance indicators that are said to be on a par with the most sophisticated technologies in the world, according to the CMA.

It will take over the in-orbit operations of the FY-3D, which has been in service for nearly eight years.

It is predicted that the FY-3H will expand the data acquisition capability for multiple spheres of the Earth system and further enhance global service quality, while guaranteeing its core operations of global imaging and atmospheric vertical sounding.

Continue reading China launches Fengyun-3H meteorological satellite to boost global climate monitoring and weather forecasting at Meteorological Technology International.