Supporting tools of solar-terrestrial science

Solar-terrestrial science is pursued by individuals and teams of workers situated in academia, research institutes, industry, and government laboratories. Progress in the field is made in various ways, but publication of results in scientific journals is the principal means of assuring that the knowledge gained from research is available to the public, now and in the future. In general, much of the research in the field is made via careful evaluation of data viewed in the context of fundamental physical principles as set forth in theoretical and analytical models, and computer simulations of physical processes. In addition, there is accumulation of knowledge expressed in the development of empirical or phenomenological models. Experience gained over the past three decades of solar-terrestrial research indicated that advances in the field require a diversity of resources and that the health of the entire discipline depends upon a balance among these. To maintain the health of the discipline, NASA and other federal funding agencies concerned with solar-terrestrial research must work together to insure that the following resources are available in reasonable measure to support solar-terrestrial research endeavors: ground-based facilities; balloons and rockets; spaceborne experiments; information networks; computational resources; models of solar terrestrial processes; data bases and archives; and research students