Riometers are emerging as an important tool in both space science and space weather. Global networks of imaging and single beam riometers support studies of high energy CPS and radiation belt electron precipitation, dynamic magnetosopheric processes such as dispersionless injections, the effect of geospace processes on high latitude atmospheric composition and dynamics, and the effects of polar cap high energy proton precipitation on communications. The growing capabilities of the global network of riometers is facilitating studies of processes involving the production, transport, and loss of high-energy magnetospheric particles at spatial scales ranging from local to essentially global. There is the potential for the deployment of large numbers of these inexpensive instruments in dense continent-wide networks. Agreements between data providers, under the auspices of the IPY ICESTAR and Gloria initiatives, and facilitated by the GAIA Virtual Observatory, are on the verge of enabling ready access to these data.
