NOAA::Aurora for Space Weather Forecasts

Source: Dev.to

Overview

With the current solar maximum, I added aurora forecasting features to my iOS weather app, Xasteria. Instead of fetching raw text files from NOAA, I let my weather proxy server handle the data retrieval. The result is NOAA::Aurora, a CPAN module that provides a convenient interface to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), handling data fetching, parsing, and caching.

Installation

Install the module from CPAN:

cpan NOAA::Aurora

Usage

Retrieve a short‑term forecast map

use NOAA::Aurora;

my $aurora = NOAA::Aurora->new();

# Short‑term forecast map for the Northern hemisphere
$aurora->get_image( hemisphere => 'north', output => 'aurora_north.jpg' );

Get short‑term aurora probability for a location

# Get short‑term aurora probability for a given location
my $probability = $aurora->get_probability( lat => 51, lon => -2 );

Obtain forecast timeseries

# Get 3‑day Kp forecast as a timeseries
my $forecast = $aurora->get_forecast();

# Get 27‑day outlook as a timeseries
my $outlook = $aurora->get_outlook();