Understanding the dashboard

Each panel on the live dashboard pulls from a specific data source and answers a specific question. This page explains what each one shows and how to read it, in the same order the panels appear on the dashboard.

The summary band

The summary band is the fastest read on the dashboard — the current Kp value and its G-scale rating, alongside the R-scale (radio blackouts) and S-scale (solar radiation storms), plus whether NASA is currently tracking any Earth-directed coronal mass ejections. If NOAA has an active space weather alert in effect, it appears here too, with its plain-language title leading and the official product code shown alongside it. The Kp index and G-scale section below covers what the G-scale numbers mean.

Kp index and G-scale

The Kp index measures global geomagnetic activity on a 0–9 scale, refreshed roughly every three hours. The chart shows what NOAA observed for each past slot as a solid bar, plus a three-day forecast as a second set of bars ahead of the current time. A faint outline behind a past bar shows what NOAA forecast for that slot before it happened, so you can see how the forecast compared with what was actually observed. NOAA's G-scale (G0 through G5) maps directly from the Kp value and is the primary at-a-glance severity indicator used throughout the dashboard. See the G/R/S scales for what each level means.

Solar wind

This panel tracks three measurements from spacecraft stationed at the L1 Lagrange point, upstream of Earth: Bz, the north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field (a sustained negative Bz couples more efficiently with Earth's own field and tends to precede geomagnetic storms); speed; and density. Readings refresh approximately every two minutes. L1's plasma sensors have intermittent dropouts — when speed or density is temporarily unavailable, the panel names exactly which field is missing rather than showing a stale or guessed number. A plasma gap is not the same as the feed going stale; magnetic field data is often unaffected.

X-ray flux

This panel plots X-ray output from the Sun as measured by NASA's GOES satellites, refreshed approximately every 15 minutes. Flares are classified by peak intensity into C, M, and X classes, each roughly ten times more intense than the one before it — the chart marks these threshold bands so you can see how a flare compares. Strong flares degrade or block high-frequency radio and GPS signals; NOAA's R-scale for radio blackouts is derived from this same X-ray data.

CME forecast

This panel lists coronal mass ejections that NASA's DONKI service has assessed as Earth-directed — eruptions of solar material likely to reach Earth's magnetosphere. Arrival windows are modeled estimates, not exact times, and each event carries a confidence band — high, moderate, or low — rather than a single precise number. When NASA has not published a confidence estimate for an event, the panel says so directly instead of guessing. Events update as NASA issues new or revised forecasts, typically hourly.