Researchers built SEITEN, a system that links a solar eruption model to a particle transport model and automatically tunes 19 free parameters to match the proton radiation levels recorded by five spacecraft during the 9 October 2021 solar energetic particle event.
Solar energetic particles can damage satellites and other space infrastructure, and physics-based forecasts hinge on many poorly known parameters. SEITEN shows a computer can fit those parameters to real observations from five spacecraft at once. But fitted values shift with model assumptions, so the next step is tuning the eruption and particle models together.
✦ Space-weather warnings stand on firmer ground when models are fitted to real spacecraft data.