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ILWS Newsletter Volume 2
Contents
1) ILWS Steering Committee Chair's Report
Dear ILWS Colleagues, First and foremost, I would like to welcome the new members of the ILWS Working Group. The Space Weather Prediction Center of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (formerly known as the Space Environment Center), has become a member agency and Dr. Rodney Viereck (see bio below) will serve as SWPC's delegate. Many of you are familiar with the activities of the SWPC, which provides daily space weather updates and forecasts and hosts the "Space Weather Week" Workshop annually. We also welcome new delegates Dr. Pal Brekke and Prof. Rainer Schwenn (bios below), representing the Norwegian Space Center and the DLR German Aerospace Center, respectively. Our Working Group and Steering Committee meetings last June yielded several important findings, and the minutes are available on the ILWS website. On behalf of the ILWS Steering Committee, I would like to congratulate the Task Groups which successfully completed their stated responsibilities and thus been discharged. The Theory and Modeling, Ionosphere/Thermosphere, and Magnetospheric Tasks Groups have served since the inception of ILWS, and their contribution has been inestimable. We extend our gratitude to Drs. Michael Hesse, Rod Heelis and Hannu Koskinen for their exceptional efforts in chairing these Task Groups. The dates for the upcoming ILWS Working Group and Steering Committee meetings have been chosen. The meetings will be held June 11 - 12, 2008 (note: the original version of this newsletter listed April 21 - 23, 2008 as the date, which has since been changed), and will be hosted by our ILWS colleagues in the Czech Republic. All ILWS delegates and Task Group chairs are encouraged to attend. We are also planning another international ILWS Workshop in 2009, to follow the success of the Goa Workshop and the Bulgaria ISROSES Symposium in 2006. The meeting location will be in Brazil, and the Science Organizing Committee is being formed this fall. Information on both of these upcoming events will be posted on the ILWS website. 2) National Reports New ILWS activities in Belgium
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Editor's Note: The ILWS community has benefited from SPWC's activities via the End Users Task Group scientific activities such as the annual "Space Weather Workshop," and other research and development efforts supported by the SPWC's staff. We welcome NOAA SPWC to the ILWS community! NOAA SWPC website: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ |
Dr. Pål Brekke is the new ILWS delegate for the Norwegian Space Center (NSC) in Norway. He replaces Dr. Bo Andersen also from NSC.
He received a Ph.D. in 1993 from the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo with focus on the ultraviolet (UV) emissions from the Sun observed with instruments on sounding rockets and the space shuttle Challenger. His work focused on dynamical aspects of the solar atmosphere and measuring variations in solar UV radiation. Since 1993 he participated in the Norwegian involvement's in preparing the EUV spectrometers CDS and SUMER on Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and was in charge of developing analysis software for CDS. After the launch of SOHO in December 1995 he was part of the science operation team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In 1999 he joined the European Space Agency (ESA) as the SOHO Deputy Project Scientist stationed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. He was also in charge of outreach and media activites for SOHO. He received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1994, ESA's Exceptional Achievement Award in 2002, Laurels for Team Achievements from the International Academy of Astronautics in 2003.
He left the European Space Agency and the SOHO project in 2004 and joined the NSC where he work as a Senior Advisor the the Space and Earth Sciences department. He is the contract manager for the Norwegian/ESA contribution to the Hinode project which consists of ground station coverage through the SvalSat downlink station at Svalbard and the Hinode Science Data Centre. He is a delegate to the ESA Programme Board of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration and coordinating the Norwegian contracts in the ESA PRODEX programme. He works closely with NSCs communication and education department. and spend a considerable time giving lectures to the public and schools promoting the Sun Earth Connection as well as writing popular science articles.
Prof. Dr. Rainer Schwenn obtained his doctorate in experimental plasma physics at the Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching in 1969. From 1971 to 1978 he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching as Co-I and technical manager of the plasma instruments for the Helios solar probes. Since 1978 he has been employed at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Lindau. His scientific work concentrated on solar wind, coronal transients and other heliospheric subjects. He became Co-I and technical manager of the German contribution to the Giotto Ion Mass Spectrometer. As Co-I and project scientist of the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph on SOHO he and his team successfully developed a new type of coronagraph.
From 1982 to 1986 he was a member of the ESA Science Team for the definition of the SOHO project. 1983/1984 he acted as member in the Topical Team on Solar and Heliospheric Physics for development of the ESA cornerstone program "Horizon 2000". 1984/1985 he spent a sabbatical year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Since 1990 he has been lecturing at the University of Göttingen on various subjects in heliospheric physics and space research. In 1994 he obtained the venia legendi at the University of Göttingen. He was appointed "Außerplanmäßiger Professor" of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Göttingen in 1998. From 1998 to 2000 he served in the ESA Solar System Working Group, and in April 2007 he was awarded by the European Geosciences Union the Julius Bartels Medal, "for his outstanding and pioneering achievements towards our understanding of the solar corona and the solar wind".
Dr. Rodney Viereck received his Ph.D. in 1986 from the University of Alaska studying aurora, airglow and gravity waves in the upper atmosphere. He spent ten years working for the US Air Force investigating the interactions between low-earth-orbit space craft and the upper atmosphere. He then came to the NOAA Space Environment Center (recently renamed the Space Weather Prediction Center or SPWC, see entry above) where his primary activity has been collecting space weather data and the observations used in research and operations. Of particular interest are observations of solar irradiance at all wavelengths and their impact on the terrestrial environment. The wavelengths of critical importance include x-ray and EUV solar emissions which impact the ionosphere and upper atmosphere, the UV solar emissions which impact the middle atmosphere and ozone, and the visible and total irradiance which impacts the whole atmosphere and climate.
He now leads the Space Weather Services Branch at SWPC which includes the critical functions of research, customer outreach, product transition, and the Space Weather Forecast Office. The Forecast Office is the Nations official source of space weather alerts warnings and forecasts. It is one of the 128 Forecast Offices of the National Weather Service and is staffed 24/7 to provide customers with the latest information on the space environment that affects their technologies and systems. It is also part of the International Space Environment Services organization which coordinates space weather services world wide.
Proposals for the Solar Orbiter Payload are solicited through Announcements of Opportunity from both NASA and ESA. Proposals in response to the ESA AO will be due 15 January 2008. The Focused Opportunity for Solar Orbiter (FOSO) is a NASA opportunity to provide instrumentation for the ESA Solar Orbiter mission. FOSO proposals are due 1 February, 2008. This is offered as part of the HELEX (Heliophysical Explorers) program, which combines the scientific capabilities of the Solar Orbiter and Inner Heliospheric Sentinels missions. The HELEX Joint Science and Technology Definition Team report is available athttp://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=41396#
ASIM is "The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor" which is a suite of 6 cameras and photometers in various spectral bands (the Miniature Multi-Spectral Imaging Array, or MMIA), and the Miniature X- and Gamma-ray Sensor (MXGS). ASIM will study the effects of thunderstorms on the upper atmosphere, ionosphere and radiation belts, and the effects of energetic particle precipitation on the atmosphere. ASIM is in Phase B and Swarm has completed Phase B. The two missions will provide data on Ionosphere/Thermosphere/Mesosphere science of relevance for ILWS.
ASIM is still open to suggestions for added instrumentation until the mid-term review in the spring of 2008.
ASIM will be positioned externally on the Columbus Module of the International Space Station.
Drawing showing the nadir module of ASIM, consisting of the XGRM and two cameras and photometers from the MMIA.
Drawing showing the limb view of ASIM, consisting of 4 cameras and photometers from the MMIA.
The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) will be flown on the International Space Station external facilities on the Columbus module, for the study of giant electrical discharges (lightning) in the high-altitude atmosphere above thunderstorms. The discharges are seen as optical-, X- and Gamma-ray flashes in the stratosphere and mesosphere. The optical emissions are dubbed "red sprites", "blue jets", and "elves" or "Transient Luminous Events" (TLEs). The X- and Gamma ray emissions "Terrestrial Gamma-Ray flashes" (TGFs). ASIM Mission website: http://www.dsri.dk/atmosphere/asim/
The Swarm mission was selected by ESA's Programme Board for Earth Observation for implementation as the fifth Earth Explorer Mission. As ESA is currently starting Phase C/D for Swarm, the membership of the Swarm Mission Advisory Group (MAG) is now being revised in line with the recommendations of the Earth Observation Envelope Programme (EOEP) Science Review Panel dealing with SAG (Science Advisory Group)/MAG composition and evolution.The objective of the Swarm mission is to provide the best ever survey of the geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution, and gain new insights into improving our knowledge of the Earth's interior and climate.
The Swarm concept consists of a constellation of three satellites in three different polar orbits between 400 and 550 km altitude. High-precision and high-resolution measurements of the strength and direction of the magnetic field will be provided by each satellite. In combination, they will provide the necessary observations that are required to model various sources of the geomagnetic field.
The multi-satellite Swarm mission will be able to take full advantage of a new generation of magnetometers enabling measurements to be taken over different regions of the Earth simultaneously. Swarm will also provide monitoring of the time-variability aspects of the geomagnetic field, this is a great improvement on the current method of extrapolation based on statistics and ground observations. The geomagnetic field models resulting from the Swarm mission will further our understanding of atmospheric processes related to climate and weather and will also have practical applications in many different areas, such as space weather and radiation hazards. ESA Swarm Mission website: http://www.esa.int/esaLP/LPswarm.html.
submitted by David F. Webb, IHY Schools Committee Chair
The International Heliophysical Year has a focus on developing educational programs that provide unique opportunities for the global community to increase the visibility and accessibility of heliophysics outreach programs. As part of this effort the IHY Schools Program is developing a series of schools in 2007 - 2009 whose purpose is to educate students about heliophysics and Universal Processes. A summary of the school program, the general curriculum, and details on the scheduled schools is at: http://ihy2007.org/outreach/ihy_schools.shtml. Here we provide a brief update on the present status of the schools program.
- 1st Year of North American School is Completed with Great Success
The NASA Living With a Star program is sponsoring a 3-year Heliophysics Summer School affiliated with UCAR in Boulder, CO. The first school was held on July 30 - August 8 and was co-sponsored by IHY as the North America IHY School. 34 students attended the school, 14 from countries outside the U.S. including Canada, India, Yemen, Germany, Ireland, Norway, France, Finland, and the U.K. The school was held over 8 days with about 25 lecturers and computer lab coordinators participating. The schedule and details about the school are at: http://www.vsp.ucar.edu/HSS_info.html. Student feedback indicated that the school was very interesting and a great success!- 1st Asia-Pacific School to be held December 10-22, 2007 at Kodaikanal Observatory in India<
Applications are now being accepted for the 1st Asia-Pacific School, which will be the 2nd IHY School. This international school, organized by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, offers an intensive two-week course on topics related to heliophysics. The course is aimed at Ph.D. and post-doctoral research students. About 50 students are expected. For more information please go to the school's homepage at: http://www.iiap.res.in/ihy/school/index.htm
- 2nd Latin America IHY School to be held 14-20 February 2008 in Sao Paulo, Brazil
60-70 students are expected to attend the 1st Latin America School, and the 3rd IHY School. This international school is organized by the Centro de Radioastronomia e Astrofisica Mackenzie (CRAAM) and will be held at the Presbyterian Mackenzie University in the center of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Lectures will be in the mornings, and computer labs and other activities, such as visits to local institutes, will be in the afternoons. The lecturers and curriculum have been confirmed. The first announcement is at: http://www.craam.mackenzie.br/pdfs/IHY-2008-1o-COMUNICADO-FINAL.pdf and updates will follow.The organization of the remaining three IHY Schools is proceeding. The 4th school, for Europe and Africa, is currently scheduled to be held at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy in October, 2008. The 2nd Asia-Pacific school is planned for 2008 in China, and the 3rd Asia- Pacific school on Langkawi Island in Malaysia in March 2009.
IHY Schools website: http://ihy2007.org/outreach/ihy_schools.shtml
WHI: Whole Heliosphere Interval, 21 March - 16 April, 2008
As a part of the International Heliophysical Year, we are organizing an international coordinated observing and modeling effort to characterize the 3-dimensional interconnected solar-heliospheric-planetary system, to be known as the Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) (originating at the Sun Carrington Rotation 2067: March 20 - April 16, 2008). WHI's science begins with the solar interior and extends through the heliosphere and interplanetary space out to the heliopause. Many participating observatories will be running a continuous "synoptic" set of observations, to provide baseline measurements of the heliophysical system. "Targeted" observing campaigns, involving day-to-day coordinated observations of heliospheric subregions in order to address specific scientific questions, will also be run within the WHI timeframe. After the Interval, modeling and intracomparison of observations will be organized via the web and workshop/meeting sessions.
If you wish to learn more, please go to http://ihy2007.org/WHI/WHI.shtml. If you wish to get on the WHI mailing list, go to http://ihy2007.org/WHI/WHI_coord.shtml.
If you wish to add your instrument to the synoptic or targeted observing lists, or are a modeler who wishes to join the effort, please contact Barbara Thompson (barbara.j.thompson at gsfc.nasa.gov). If you wish to be involved in planning targeted observations, please see http://ihy2007.org/WHI/targeted_plans.shtml, and (if solar) directly contact the campaign coordinator, or (if non-solar) contact Barbara Thompson, before November 15, 2007. There are many opportunities to participate in WHI, we encourage you to check out the web pages.
RHESSI "Science Nuggets" provide stories and updates of scientific activities of the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopy Imager (RHESSI). The nuggets cover a wide range of topics in high-energy solar and flare physics, and are written in a clear and informative manner. A new nugget appears approximately every other week.RHESSI Science Nuggets website: http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/nuggets/
and the
2009 ILWS Community Workshop: Brazil
The next ILWS Working Group meeting will be held 11 - 12 June 2008 and will be hosted by our ILWS colleagues in Prague, Czech Republic (please note the date change from April 2008!). ILWS delegates, Task Group Leaders, and Steering Committee members are encouraged to attend. The Steering Committee will meet the afternoon of Tuesday, 10 June, while the full ILWS Working Group meeting will begin the morning of 11 June.The next ILWS community-wide workshop is currently being planned for early 2009, at a yet-undetermined location in Brazil. Participants in the previous ILWS community workshop, "Solar Influence on the Heliosphere and Earth's Environment: Recent Progress and Prospects" held 19-24 February 2006 in Goa India, as well as the International Symposium on Recent Observations and Simulations of the Sun-Earth System held 17-22 April 2006 in Varna Bulgaria, will recall the wide range of ILWS topics addressed at the meeting and the unique opportunity to address these topics in a global context.
The purpose of the upcoming meeting is to promote the science of the connected Sun-Earth system in three ways:
(1) by exposing the science community to research in Brazil and neighboring countries,
The focus of the meeting will be based in part on areas of interest to the Solar-Terrestrial research community in Brazil, and in part on relevant ILWS missions that are flying or about to be launched.
(2) by providing an opportunity for participating scientists and students to learn more about international ILWS efforts and related space science activities, in particular those involving space-based observations, and
(3) by fostering collaborative partnerships between ILWS scientists.The finalized meeting dates and location are expected to be announced in early 2008. Information will be forthcoming; the meetings points of contact are Jim Spann (jim.spann {at} nasa.gov), David Sibeck (david.g.sibeck {at} nasa.gov) and Barbara Thompson (barbara.j.thompson {at} nasa.gov).
The Fourth European Space Weather Week will take place at the Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels, from Monday 5th November to Friday 9th November 2007. This event continues to build on the advances made during the first three European Space Weather Weeks held between 2004 and 2006. The workshop again adopts the central aim of bringing together communities working on diverse elements of space weather. Many topics of relevance to the ILWS community will be addressed.This year's meeting will include one full day dedicated to the final presentation of the COST 724 action dedicated to "Developing the Scientific Basis for Monitoring, Modelling and Predicting Space Weather." This will be followed by three and a half days split into a number of topical plenary sessions and splinter meetings. The central focus this year is again bridging the gap between scientific activities and applications. The topics addressed and session breakdowns will reflect this. The meeting highlights recent advances in both scientific and applications based domains, focussing on a number of topical thematic issues. The meeting will also explore community development and investigate possible routes towards the creation of a sustainable space weather activity in Europe through a dedicated session and several business meetings.
Fourth European Space Weather Week website: http://sidc.be/esww4/
The IHY-Africa Space Weather Science and Education Workshop will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 12-16 November, 2007. The purpose of the workshop is to facilitate scientific interaction and promote space science in Africa, with a strong educational focus. The space science community is currently exploring ways to increase the observational infrastructure in the African sector, and to encourage scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa to become involved in the science objectives, and to host instrumentation at their institutions. The new observational infrastructure will facilitate the study of space weather, spark interest in space science education and research, and encourage the next generation to become interested in the space sciences.There will be a special GIFT (Geophysical Information for Teachers) workshop on the preceding Saturday, 10 November, where teachers around the region will travel to Addis Ababa, experience a special planetarium show and educational activities, and learn to use the Stanford Solar Center's SID Space Weather Monitors at their own schools. The teacher workshop will be followed by the 2nd SCINDA Workshop on Sunday, where researchers in Africa will learn about the operations of the SCINDA Ionospheric Monitors and details for installation into new sites in Africa.
IHY-Africa Space Weather Workshop website: http://kuiper.colorado.edu/IHY-Africa
Applications are now being accepted for the 1st Asia-Pacific School on the International Heliophysical Year. This international school offers an intensive two weeks course in topics related to heliophysics. The course is aimed at Ph.D. and post-doctoral research students.
The school will cover a broad spectrum of physical processes in the heliospace. The overall theme of the School is to teach the students how the Sun influences the sphere of 100 AU radius through its electromagnetic and mass emissions and the physical processes involved. The purpose is to provide an introduction to heliophysics for students who do not have an opportunity to take such a course at their home institution. There will be approximately 40 lectures, with activities related to the lecture material. There will also be lab exercises and opportunities to observe the Sun with the existing facilities.
School website: http://www.iiap.res.in/ihy/school/
About this Newsletter
The ILWS Newsletter will be released on a quarterly basis. Submissions for and inquiries about this newsletter can be sent to Barbara Thompson at barbara.j.thompson {at} nasa.gov.The current and archived versions of ILWS newsletters will be posted on the ILWS website at http://ilws.gsfc.nasa.gov.
