🇺🇸 영어 원문
At the Met Office headquarters, the screens in one corner of the control centre are focused on close-up imagery of the Sun.
It is here that a space weather prediction team, one of only a small number of teams worldwide, operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The weather in space has the potential to impact our lives here on Earth in a fundamental way. GPS, power grids and satellites are some of the vital technologies vulnerable to changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
As a result, the Met Office has turned to Aberystwyth University researchers to help improve its space weather forecasting abilities.
Space weather is mostly driven by activity on the Sun. Examples include solar flares, which are intense bursts of radiation.
The UK government has included severe space weather in its National Risk Register.
A 2025 estimate by Lloyds found that a severe space weather event could cost the world economy 2.4 trillion dollars over a five year period.
The Met Office has been working with key infrastructure operators since 2014 to try to keep us safe from those impacts, by producing forecasts using equipment on Earth and satellites out in space.
Richard Stone, from the space forecasting team, said the work allowed them to diagnose activity on the Sun’s surface, provide a forecast, and alert relevant users so they could take mitigating actions.
Stone said the available technology was incredibly impressive, but still at an early stage. He added that the team had made great strides since 2014, but observations were still limited.
Despite spotting an event on the Sun’s surface around three days before it reaches Earth, there are no more sightings until it reaches satellites about one million miles away.
This gives scientists around one hour to more precisely predict its real effect on Earth and, if needed, warn partners of the mitigation needed to avoid disruption.
Stone compared it to seeing a storm on the east coast of America and then not having any observations until it gets to Ireland.
The agency has turned to a group of researchers, led by Aberystwyth University, to improve its forecasting abilities.
The project is being led by Professor Huw Morgan, who is Head of Space Physics at Aberystwyth University, working alongside Northumbria, Durham and Reading universities.
Morgan said the pre-warning was a huge mitigation of the danger posed by space weather. For example, it gives the National Grid an opportunity to prepare and avoid power cuts, or airlines can divert their flights from high latitude to safer lower latitudes.
Compared to forecasting normal weather on Earth, space weather forecasting is quite different, but the growing team is working to give society more time to prepare.
🇰🇷 한국어 요약
우주에도 날씨가 있고, 그 변화는 우리 삶에 큰 영향을 줄 수 있습니다. 태양에서 나오는 강한 방사선인 태양 플레어와 같은 활동은 지구 자기장을 어지럽혀 GPS, 전력망, 위성 같은 중요한 기술을 방해할 수 있어요. 영국 기상청 메트 오피스는 한 해 365일, 하루 24시간 우주 날씨를 예측하는 팀을 운영하고 있습니다. 심각한 우주 날씨는 세계 경제에 수조 달러 피해를 줄 수 있다고 추산되기도 했습니다. 그래서 메트 오피스는 2014년부터 인프라 운영 기관들과 협력해 지상 장비와 위성으로 예보를 만들고, 필요한 기관에 조기에 알려 대응을 돕고 있습니다. 태양 표면의 이상을 보면 지구에 도달하기까지 약 3일이 있지만, 그 다음 관측은 약 100만 마일 밖 위성까지 기다려야 해 정밀 예보 시간은 약 1시간 남짓입니다. 이 짧은 경고 시간이 전력망이 정전을 막거나 항공기가 안전한 경로로 우회할 수 있는 ‘골든타임’이 됩니다. 과학자들은 더 정확한 우주 날씨 예보를 만들기 위해 계속 연구하고 있어요.
🔑 핵심 단어 (Vocabulary)
- space weather – 우주 날씨 – The weather in space has the potential to impact our lives here on Earth.
- solar flare – 태양 플레어 – Examples include solar flares, which are intense bursts of radiation.
- magnetic field – 자기장 – GPS, power grids and satellites are vulnerable to changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
- forecast – 예보, 예측 – provide a forecast, and alert relevant users so they could take mitigating actions.
- infrastructure – 인프라 – The Met Office has been working with key infrastructure operators since 2014.
- mitigation – 완화, 경감 – alert relevant users so they could take mitigating actions.
- disruption – 장애, 방해 – warn partners of the mitigation needed to avoid disruption.
- satellite – 위성 – producing forecasts using equipment on Earth and satellites out in space.
- power grid – 전력망 – it gives the National Grid an opportunity to prepare and avoid power cuts.
- latitude – 위도 – airlines can divert their flights from high latitude to safer lower latitudes.
🔗 원문 링크
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czjlzdw8gp0o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss