SEIEG Terms of Reference

UK Space Environment Impacts Expert Group (SEIEG)

Terms of Reference

October 2019

  1. The role of the Space Environment Impacts Expert Group (SEIEG) is to advise Government on the Space Environment and its potential impact on UK infrastructure and business. The SEIEG will:
    1. provide immediate advice during emergencies associated with Space Environment events, collectively and individually as needed;
    2. act as a pool of experts to be drawn upon for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), chaired by the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, in response to a COBR emergency;
    3. provide input to the National (Security) Risk assessment on the Reasonable Worst-Case Scenario associated with Severe Space Weather events;
    4. recommend approaches to gather additional information where evidence on vulnerability to Severe Space Weather is unavailable or incomplete, and identify skills, education and research needs to support this agenda;
    5. advise the Severe Space Weather Steering Group (SSWSG) on challenges that could require mitigation and response strategies to seek to improve the resilience of infrastructure and business to impacts arising from the Space Weather;
    6. highlight where there are gaps in international and UK regulation and standards;
    7. liaise with international agencies, organisations and colleagues to ensure that issues relating to the Space Weather are addressed in a coordinated manner;
    8. advise SSWSG on international advances in scientific understanding of space weather that could help to refine national and international risk assessments and/or mitigation strategies.
  2. The SEIEG will seek to develop a consensus on the advice it provides. Where differences of opinions cannot be fully resolved, the Group will indicate the level of uncertainty that arises from those differences.
  3. The SEIEG Chair’s position will be reviewed after each term of three years.
  4. The SEIEG Chair will be supported by a deputy who can take on the role of Chair in a Space Environment event, should the Chair be unavailable.
  5. The SEIEG will meet approximately every six months, or more often as required.
  6. Review and revisions to the NRA Reasonable Worst-Case Scenario will be made every five years, or each time the NRA is refreshed.
  7. In the event of a SAGE meeting being called, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser will select, with advice from the SEIEG Chair, individual representatives from the SEIEG (and elsewhere, as necessary) to inform the response to a Space Weather event.
  8. The SEIEG will draw on the expertise within the UK and elsewhere to fulfil its role. Membership will be kept under review and individuals invited as appropriate, these will include representatives to cover the following topic areas:
        • Geomagnetic and geoelectric environment
        • Radiation and plasma environment
        • Thermospheric and ionospheric environment
        • Solar and heliospheric drivers of these environments
        • Hazards related to communications, navigation, timing and surveillance
        • Hazards related to electrical power grids, rail systems and pipelines due to Geomagnetic induced currents (GICs)
        • Hazards related to satellites, electronic devices, radiation dose
        • Hazards related to aviation including radiation effects on avionics, dose to humans, communications and navigation
        • Hazards related to satellite drag
        • Societal impacts, including public behaviour
        • Government Departmental representation
  1. Expert and Government Departmental representatives may send appropriate alternatives where they are not able to attend SEIEG meetings themselves.

 

Annex A

SEIEG Membership

  • Professor Mike Hapgood (RAL Space) – Principal Consultant on Space Weather at RAL Space, Visiting Professor at Lancaster University, and Chair of the SEIEG.
  • Professor Richard Harrison (RAL Space) – Chief Scientist at RAL Space, Visiting Professor at the Universities of Aberystwyth, St Andrews and Imperial College London.
  • Dr Mario Bisi (RAL Space) – Head of Space Weather at RAL Space.
  • Professor Cathryn Mitchell (Bath University) – Professor of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Bath University
  • Professor Richard Horne (British Antarctic Survey) – individual merit scientist and Honorary Professor at the University of Sheffield. Currently leading the NERC-funded RadSat programme to help protect satellites from space weather.
  • Dr Alan Thomson (British Geological Survey) – Head of Geomagnetism at BGS, project lead on the National Grid Geomagnetism project. Currently leading the NERC-funded SWIGS project studying space weather impacts on electrically-grounded infrastructures.
  • Dr John Rees (British Geological Survey) – Director of Science for Earth Hazards, Observatories at BGS.
  • Colin Hord (CAA) – the aviation regulator will represent public interests in the safety and management of UK airspace and provide information on developments undertaken internationally under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
  • Dr Gemma Attrill (DSTL) – representing DSTL and MOD, providing the government with scientific and technical support for UK defence and security.
  • Dr Graham Routledge (DSTL) – representing DSTL and MOD, providing the government with scientific and technical support for UK defence and security.
  • Simon Machin (Met Office) – Space Weather Programme Manager at the Met Office, representing the owners of the risk.
  • Professor David Jackson (Met Office) – advising on the Thermospheric environment in particular.
  • Dr Andrew Richards (National Grid) – will give insight into the capabilities of the National Grid.
  • Dr Rick Tanner (Public Health England) – responsible for public health information, alongside local authorities, on the effects of increased radiation doses.
  • Bryn Jones (SolarMetrics) – advises the government and UK airlines on cosmic radiation, Previous RAF pilot and current commercial pilot.
  • Dr Mike Willis (UKSA) – Head of Spectrum Policy and Space Weather at UKSA.
  • Professor Paul Cannon (University of Birmingham) – Professor of Radio Science and Systems at the University of Birmingham and Chair of the study working group for the 2013 RAE report into extreme space weather.
  • Dr Sean Elvidge (University of Birmingham) – Lecturer in Space Environment in the Space Environment and Radio Engineering (SERENE) group in the School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham.
  • Dr Matthew Angling (SPIRE) – Ionospheric programme manager at Spire
  • Professor John Preston (University of Essex) – Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Leadership Fellow in Conflict, Crime and Security at the University of Essex
  • Dr Keith Ryden (University or Surrey) – a leading expert in the effects of solar storms on satellite, aircraft and electronic systems. Reader in Space Engineering (Space Environment and Effects) University of Surrey Space Centre.
  • Professor Clive Dyer (CSDRadConsultancy and University of Surrey) – a leading expert in the effects of space radiation on spacecraft, aircraft and ground-level electronic systems and Visiting Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering at the University of Surrey
  • Professor Jim Wild (Lancaster University) Professor of Space Physics in the Space & Planetary Physics Group at the Lancaster’s Department of Physics.