- Climate Prediction Enhancement: Integrating solar and geomagnetic data improves long-term climate forecasting, critical for African agriculture and water resource planning
- Inter-Disciplinary Science: Combines climate science, space physics, plasma physics, and geology to understand Earth as an interconnected system
- Planetary Understanding: Creates framework applicable beyond Earth, enabling comparison with other planets and advancing planetary science
- African Agricultural Resilience: Better climate predictions enable proactive adaptation strategies for regions vulnerable to climate variability
- Global Scientific Contribution: Leverages Africa's unique position (world's longest magnetic observatory) to advance global climate science
Geomagnetic Solar Climate Model (GMSC)
The Geomagnetic Solar Climate Model programme enhances Africa's capabilities in climate prediction and space weather monitoring.
The initiative develops sophisticated models that integrate solar activity, geomagnetic field variations, geological activity, and climate patterns to improve long-term predictions and understand the complex interactions between space and Earth environments.
Current climate models examine individual relationships between space weather, climate, geological activity, and geomagnetism, but no comprehensive model combines these interconnected systems. This gap limits our ability to make accurate long-term predictions and understand Earth as a complete planetary system.
South Africa's world-leading position in space weather monitoring, including the world's longest continuously operational magnetic observatory, uniquely positions the continent for this research. FSDA creates a complex data-driven model examining correlations between Earth's magnetism, geological activity, climate, and space weather over recent decades, with collaborative research in interdisciplinary areas such as plasma physics.
For Africa, where climate variability profoundly impacts agriculture, water resources, and food security, improved climate predictions enable better planning and adaptation strategies.
