Scientists at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can forecast solar wind speeds up to four days in advance, significantly more accurately than current methods. The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

Solar wind is a continuous stream of charged particles released by the sun. When these particles speed up, they can cause “space weather” events that disrupt Earth’s atmosphere and drag satellites out of orbit, damage their electrons, and interfere with power grids. In 2022, a strong solar wind event caused SpaceX to lose 40 Starlink satellites, showing the urgent need for better forecasting.

The NYUAD team, led by Postdoctoral Associate Dattaraj Dhuri and Co-Principal Investigator at the Center for Space Science (CASS) Shravan Hanasoge, trained their AI model using high-resolution ultraviolet (UV) images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, combined with historical records of solar wind.