Atmosphere (Mar 2024)

An Assessment of the GLE Alert++ Warning System

  • Helen Mavromichalaki,
  • Pavlos Paschalis,
  • Maria Gerontidou,
  • Anastasia Tezari,
  • Maria-Christina Papailiou,
  • Dimitra Lingri,
  • Maria Livada,
  • Argyris Stassinakis,
  • Norma Crosby,
  • Mark Dierckxsens

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15030345
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 3
p. 345

Abstract

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Over the last years the Athens Cosmic Ray Group of the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens has implemented a warning tool called GLE Alert, which is a highly credible application that issues alerts when a ground level enhancement (GLE) starts due to very high energy solar energetic particles reaching the Earth. This application warns of a high intensity solar energetic particle event up to several minutes before it reaches near the near-Earth space environment. In this work, an assessment of the latest updated version of GLE Alert, GLE Alert++, is presented. GLE Alert++ is a federated product of the ESA S2P SWE Space Radiation Expert Service Centre, which is part of the ESA Space WEather Service NETwork (SWESNET) project. The assessment of the GLE Alert++, which was finalized in October 2022, focused on: (a) the availability of the real-time data provided by the neutron monitor stations that contribute to the GLE Alert++, (b) the behaviour of each station regarding the different Alert levels status (Watch, Warning and Alert), and (c) the definition of the real-time assessment index. The results of this work are of essential importance since they ensure a reliable and trustworthy warning tool, and can be highly useful in protecting humans during extreme solar energetic events.

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