Uses, Needs, and Plans for off Sun-Earth Line Lagrange Point 5 Observations

The L5 Project within the joint program between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will supply the Compact Coronagraph 3 (CCOR-3), built by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Vigil mission to the Lagrange 5 (L5) point mission. In addition, the L5 project will obtain, distribute, and archive all Vigil products. The off SEL coronagraph data from CCOR-3 is expected to improve space weather forecasting of the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA)-Enlil predictions of CME arrival at Earth. The in-situ plasma and magnetic field data from L5 can be used to monitor the evolution of co-rotating structures with lead times of days before any potential impact on Earth. Previous Research has shown pathways to using particle data and heliospheric imaging data to further improve forecasting of space weather. NOAA is also interested in the planned Vigil magnetograph for improved solar wind modeling and for the longer lead time solar flare predictions it will enable. We will present the NOAA current uses of data from STEREO and plans for future observations and space weather product improvements from CCOR-3 and Vigil mission products.