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Full catalog/NWS WAM IPE
NWS WAM IPE·dataset

Upper-atmosphere and space weather forecast (NOAA)

NOAA Whole Atmosphere Model-Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics (WAM-IPE) Forecast System (WFS)
atmosphere NOAA NOAA active
In plain English

What it measures. Conditions in the very top of the atmosphere and the charged-particle layers above it, including how the ionosphere and thermosphere respond to the sun and geomagnetic storms, out to two days ahead.

How it's made. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center couples a whole-atmosphere model with an ionosphere-plasmasphere model spanning from about 90 km up to roughly 10,000 km altitude.

How & where you'd use it. It helps protect GPS accuracy, radio communications, and satellites by forecasting space weather disturbances that disrupt them.

What's measured

aws-pdsclimatemeteorologicalsolarweather

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span— → ongoing

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The coupled Whole Atmosphere Model-Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics (WAM-IPE) Forecast System (WFS) is developed and maintained by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The WAM-IPE model provides a specification of ionosphere and thermosphere conditions with real-time nowcasts and forecasts up to two days in advance in response to solar, geomagnetic, and lower atmospheric forcing. The WAM is an extension of the Global Forecast System (GFS) with a spectral hydrostatic dynamical core utilizing an enthalpy thermodynamic variable to 150 vertical levels on a hybrid pressure-sigma grid, with a model top of approximately 3 x 10-7 Pa (typically 400-600km depending on levels of solar activity). Additional upper atmospheric physics and chemistry, including electrodynamics and plasma processes, are included. The IPE model provides the plasma component of the atmosphere. It is a time-dependent, global 3D model of the ionosphere and plasmasphere from 90 km to approximately 10,000 km. WAM fields of winds, temperature, and molecular and atomic atmospheric composition are coupled to IPE to enable the plasma to respond to changes driven by the neutral atmosphere. The operational WAM-IPE is currently running in two different Concepts of Operation (CONOPS) to produce results of Nowcast and Forecast. The WAM-IPE real-time nowcast system (WRS) ingests real-time solar wind parameters every 5 minutes from NOAA’s spacecrafts located at Lagrange point 1 (L1) between the Sun and Earth in order to capture rapid changes in the ionosphere and thermosphere due to the sudden onset of ge

Get the data

noaa_access.py
# NOAA Open Data on AWS — public S3, no login
import s3fs

fs = s3fs.S3FileSystem(anon=True)
# find this dataset's bucket in the docs link in the sidebar, then:
# files = fs.ls("noaa-<bucket>/...")
# open NetCDF/GRIB with xarray, COGs with rioxarray
NOAA Open Data is on public AWS S3 — no login at all (anonymous access).