[GEM] THE GEM MESSENGER, Volume 26, Number 18

Wed May 18 06:13:37 PDT 2016

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     THE GEM MESSENGER
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Volume 26, Number 18
May.18,2016

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Table of Contents

1. 2016 Joint GEM-CEDAR: Call for participation in "CEDAR-GEM Modeling Challenge" Session

2. 2016 Joint GEM-CEDAR: Invitation to "SAPS Focus Study" Session

3. 2016 Joint GEM-CEDAR: "Influence of exosphere composition on the plasmasphere" Session

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1. 2016 Joint GEM-CEDAR: Call for participation in "CEDAR-GEM Modeling Challenge" Session
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From: Katherine Garcia-Sage (katherine.garcia-sage at nasa.gov)

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to participate in the GEM-CEDAR Modeling Challenge Sessions at the 2016 Joint CEDAR-GEM Workshop. We will have three sessions, which will be held on June 20 and 21, 2016 in Sweeney B of Santa Fe Community Convention Center, Santa Fe, NM.

Session 1 (13:30-15:30, Monday, 06/20) will focus on overview topics related to model validation: 
1.	Review the status of current CEDAR-GEM Model Validation Challenge projects 
2.	Challenges related to data availability and how to address these challenges for specific model validation projects 
3.	Uncertainty assessment and sensitivity analysis 
4.	Event-based metrics, expanding event list: benefits, challenges, guidelines 
5.	Role of magnetospheric drivers and ionospheric feedback 

Session 2 (16:00-18:00, Monday, 06/20) will focus on current research and future plans for: 
1.	Quantification and validation of phenomena in the auroral region 
o	Conductivity
o	Particle precipitation
2.	Validation and metrics selection for auroral boundaries specification and predictions 
3.	Quantification and validation of storm-driven ionospheric/thermospheric disturbances 
o	Poynting flux/Joule heating 
o	TEC, NmF2 
o	Neutral density/satellite drag 

Session 3 (13:30-15:30, Tuesday, 06/21) will kick off and define a new Ionospheric Conductance Challenge with a discussion of which conductance validation goals will be the most timely and helpful to the GEM-CEDAR community. Please join our discussion of conductance observations and models, and help us get our Conductance Modeling Challenge off to a good start as we discuss available datasets, optimal methods of data-model comparison, and event selection.

Please find more information on the sessions at http://cedarweb.vsp.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2016_Workshop:GEM_CEDAR_Modeling_Challenge and the CEDAR-GEM Modeling Challenge at http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/  

We are soliciting short contributed talks for sessions #1 and #2 and active participation in the challenge-defining discussion planned for session #3. If you are interested in presenting your ideas, please contact Ja Soon Shim (jasoon.shim at nasa.gov) or Katherine Garcia-Sage (katherine.garcia-sage at nasa.gov)

Best regards,

GEM Modeling Methods and Validation FG co-chairs:
Lutz Rastaetter
Rob Redmon
Mike Liemohn 
Katherine Garcia-Sage

CEDAR Conveners:
Ja Soon Shim
Masha Kuznetsova
Mihail Codrescu
Yongliang Zhang

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2. 2016 Joint GEM-CEDAR: Invitation to "SAPS Focus Study" Session
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From: Naomi Maruyama, Stan Sazykin, Mike Ruohoniemi, Phil Erickson, Simon Shepherd, Tony Mannucci, Jo Baker (naomi.maruyama at noaa.gov)

Dear Colleagues,

At the CEDAR-GEM workshop, the GEM SIMIC focus group and the CEDAR Grand Challenges “Storms and substorms without borders” (SSWB) will hold a joint session that will be organized around our new “SAPS focus study”. We would like to invite you to participate in this focus study and contribute to our workshop. 

We invite theorists, modelers, and experimentalists to participate in a collaborative effort focused on the physics of SAPS, with the initial round of discussion taking place at the 2016 summer CEDAR-GEM workshop. For this first phase, we invite contributions that present simulation results of the subauroral ionospheric electric fields for several selected intervals. The intervals were selected based on available observations:

(1) March 16, 2013 04-10 UT (pre-storm SAPS);
(2) March 17, 2013 06-20 UT (main phase SAPS);
(3) March 20, 2013 04-10 UT (recovery phase SAPS);
(4) June 16, 2015, 06-10 UT (non-storm conditions);
(5) June 17, 2015, 06-11 UT (non-storm conditions).

At the workshop, we invite participants to engage in a robust discussion of the nature of SAPS, the role of plasma instabilities, the control of occurrence of SAPS by solar wind and IMF parameters, ionospheric preconditioning influence on SAPS appearance, and the role of the inner magnetospheric pressure-bearing plasma in determining SAPS lifetimes. In addition to numerical simulations, we welcome presentations that address observations of SAPS and related effects (both in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere) in the coupled M-I-T system relevant to the selected events. 

Results should be sent to the workshop organizers (at least two weeks before the workshop). A more detailed description of the SAPS focused collaborative study, with background information on the selected intervals, will be available at http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/community/CEDAR_ITM/cedar-grand.php
which will also serve as a repository for contributions and results.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you will attend, and if you plan to contribute. The final format of the workshop will be decided later.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Regards,
organizers
Naomi Maruyama, Stan Sazykin, Mike Ruohoniemi, Phil Erickson, Simon Shepherd, Tony Mannucci, Jo Baker

Session website: http://cedarweb.vsp.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2016_Workshop:MIT_Coupling#Description
GEM SIMIC focus group: http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/gemwiki/index.php/FG:_Storm-Time_Inner_Magnetosphere-Ionosphere_Convection

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3. 2016 Joint GEM-CEDAR: "Influence of exosphere composition on the plasmasphere" Session
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From: Jonathan Krall, Alan Burns, Sarah McDonald, John Emmert, Fabrizio Sassi (jonathan.krall at nrl.navy.mil)

We are seeking participation in our Joint GEM/CEDAR session: What is the composition of the exosphere and how does it influence the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere? 

http://cedarweb.vsp.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2016_Workshop:Exosphere_impacts_on_the_plasmasphere

Monday 6/20, 4-6 pm

Interesting topics include:
- Are models that extend the thermosphere into the exosphere correct?
- Why is hydrogen important to our understanding of geospace?
- How best to measure the composition of the exosphere?
- How does the composition of the exosphere affect the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere?
- How does the influence of the exosphere vary with the solar cycle?
- How much H is in the exosphere and what is its affect?
- What is the state of thermosphere/exosphere/ionosphere/plasmasphere modeling?
- What is the state of thermosphere/exosphere modeling?
- Where does H/O+ charge exchange happen?

Interested parties please contact:

Jonathan Krall: jonathan.krall at nrl.navy.mil
Alan Burns: aburns at ucar.edu
Sarah McDonald: sarah.mcdonald at nrl.navy.mil
John Emmert: john.emmert at nrl.navy.mil
Fabrizio Sassi: fabrizio.sassi at nrl.navy.mil

Thanks for your consideration.

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