Space Environment Impacts Expert Group – SEIEG

The Space Environment Impacts Expert Group (SEIEG) is an independent committee of experts drawn from Academia, Research Institutes, Companies, and Agencies.

The primary purpose of the SEIEG is to review current and emerging risks to people and modern infrastructure posed by space weather, and to provide advice to Government Departments.

The SEIEG is independent of Government and does not receive funding for the work it undertakes.

Space Weather

Space weather refers to changes in the near-space environment that disrupt modern technology and endanger human health.  Space weather is driven primarily by solar variations and causes disruption to power supplies, satellites, communications, aviation, navigation, pipelines and much more.

Meetings

The SEIEG meets twice a year and is hosted by the Government Office of Science.  Senior civil servants from other Departments, such as the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Transport, usually attend.

Membership

The SEIEG is composed of a core team, and a wider membership.  The core team includes:

The core team draws on the expertise of the wider membership.

Key Research Findings

Members of SEIEG have published influential reports and research papers which have been independently assessed by international peer review.  These include the Royal Academy of Engineering Report on extreme space weather (Cannon et al., 2013), assessments of the economic impact of a severe space weather event (Eastwood et al., 2018, Oughton et al., 2019) and the development of realistic worst-case scenarios (Hapgood et al., 2021).

These research findings have been used to support the UK National Risk Assessment (2020), the National Space Strategy (2021) and the BEIS severe space weather preparedness strategy (2021).

Origins

More information about the origins of the SEIEG is available here.

UK Research Project Links

SWIMMR Programme

Reports and References

SEIEG Report (2012). Summary of space weather worst-case environments

SEIEG Report (2016). Summary of space weather worst-case environments. Revised edition

SEIEG Report (2020). Summary of space weather worst-case environments

SEIEG Report (2022). Summary of space weather worst-case environments. (3rd rev. ed.)

Eastwood, J. P., Hapgood, M. A., Biffis, E., Benedetti, D., Bisi, M. M., Green, L., et al. (2018). Quantifying the economic value of space weather forecasting for power grids: An exploratory study. Space Weather,  16,  2052– 2067. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018SW002003

Hapgood, M., Angling, M. J., Attrill, G., Bisi, M., Cannon, P. S., Dyer, C., et al. (2021). Development of space weather reasonable worst-case scenarios for the UK National Risk Assessment. Space Weather, 19, e2020SW002593. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002593

Oughton, E. J., Hapgood, M., Richardson, G. S., Beggan, C. D., Thomson, A. W. P., Gibbs, M., et al. (2019). A risk assessment framework for the socioeconomic impacts of electricity transmission infrastructure failure due to space weather: An application to the United Kingdom. Risk Analysis, 39, 1022–1043. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13229

BEIS Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy (2021)

Cannon et al. (2013). Extreme space weather: impacts on engineered systems and infrastructure. Royal Academy on Engineering. Summary Report

Cannon et al. (2013). Extreme space weather: impacts on engineered systems and infrastructure. Royal Academy on Engineering. Full Report

National Risk Register (2020)

National Space Strategy (2021)

Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (2021)

Solar Storm Risk to the North American Electric Grid, Lloyds Report (2013)