[GEM] THE GEM MESSENGER, Volume 26, Number 42

Fri Oct 21 10:41:07 PDT 2016

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     THE GEM MESSENGER
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Volume 26, Number 42
Oct.21,2016

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Table of Contents

1. 2016 GEM-CEDAR Workshop Report: Modeling Methods and Validation Focus Group

2. SPEDAS/MMS Plug-ins webinar: October 26

3. MEETING: AGU Chapman Conference on Dayside Magnetosphere Interactions, 10-14 July 2017, Chengdu, China

4. BOOK: Space Weather Fundamentals

5. Post-doctoral Position in Space Physics: UT Dallas

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1. 2016 GEM-CEDAR Workshop Report: Modeling Methods and Validation Focus Group
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From: Katherine Garcia-Sage, Mike Liemohn, Lutz Rastaetter, Rob Redmon (katherine.garcia-sage at nasa.gov)

GEM-CEDAR Modeling Challenge and Ionospheric Conductance Modeling Challenge

The Modeling Methods and Validation Focus Group held three joint sessions with CEDAR to present results from the GEM-CEDAR Modeling Challenge and to launch the next joint challenge on ionospheric conductance.  All of these sessions were held early in the workshop week, on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday, 6/20: CEDAR-GEM Model Validation Challenge Project Results

The first session began with a review of the CEDAR-GEM Modeling Challenge from Ja Soon Shim, followed by a quick introduction to the Ionospheric Conductance Challenge by Mike Liemohn, to get people thinking about it.  Several speakers discussed their work on the selected events for the CEDAR-GEM Challenge, including Yongliang Zhang, Bob Robinson, Larisa Goncharenko, and Katie Garcia-Sage. Masha Kuznetsova took it to a broader level by discussing the issue of how to conduct appropriate data-model comparisons and model validations, including a long conversation about how to quantify uncertainties within models.  In the spirit of the GEM and CEDAR Workshops, this session was about half presentation and half open discussion.

The second session, also on Monday, continued the presentations of project results from the CEDAR-GEM Model Validation Challenge.  Because Ja Soon Shim has led these challenges within the CEDAR community since 2009, it was useful to devote a session to a series of reports to highlight the accomplishments of both the GEM and CEDAR communities towards this effort.  These included talks by Lutz Rastätter, Delores Knipp, Liam Kilcommons, Yongliang Zhang, Slava Merkin, Burcu Kosar, Joe Huba, and Shunrong Zhang.  The session brought together many who are interested in improving not only the accuracy of our numerical models but also the methodologies we use to achieve this.  It very nicely showcased the attention by the research community on model validation.

Note that nearly all of these presentations are available at the GEM-CEDAR Challenge website hosted by CCMC:  http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/

Tuesday, 6/21: Ionospheric Conductance Challenge Discussion

The final session in this series opened the conversation on the latest joint ionosphere-magnetosphere modeling challenge: ionospheric conductance. Katie Garcia-Sage set the stage for this session with a brief recap of the previous day and introduction to the new challenge.  This was followed by several talks that poignantly revealed the necessity for this challenge.  Dan Welling demonstrated that most MHD models use an ionospheric conductance specification based on a small subset of the possible range of geomagnetic activity, therefore requiring extrapolation of the conductance values for the largest events.  Ryan McGranaghan then gave a review of ionospheric conductivity calculation methodologies, showing that we could be better.  Slava Merkin discussed two microphysical processes that could significantly influence the large-scale ionospheric conductance patterns.  Finally, Anna DeJong showed modeling runs with different auroral input models, showing substantial differences between the results for the same event. These brief talks were followed by a lengthy open discussion on how to proceed with a challenge that will bring attention and concentrated effort towards improving our calculations of ionospheric conductance.  Consensus was not reached, but a plan for making progress on the definition of this challenge was devised.  A session will be held at the GEM Mini-Workshop in San Francisco in December 2016 to continue this conversation and finalize the organization of the Ionospheric Conductance Challenge.

The Modeling Methods and Validation Focus Group also held joint sessions with Dayside Kinetics, Tail Environment and Dynamics at Lunar Distances, and ULF-wave Modeling, Effects, and Applications. Please see these focus group summaries for the joint session reports.

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2. SPEDAS/MMS Plug-ins webinar: October 26
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From: Eric Grimes, Jim Lewis, Vassilis Angelopoulos and the SPEDAS team (egrimes at igpp.ucla.edu)

The Space Physics Environment Data Analysis Software (SPEDAS) development team would like to invite you to participate in a Webex presentation we'll be holding later this month.

On Wednesday, October 26 at 10am Pacific, we'll be hosting a session focusing on using SPEDAS to analyze MMS data, with an emphasis on tools to work with data from the Energetic Ion Spectrometer (EIS) and Fly's Eye Energetic Particle Sensor (FEEPS) instruments. For more information on the MMS plug-in in SPEDAS, please see: http://spedas.org/wiki/index.php?title=MMS

If there are any particular questions or topics of general interest that you'd like to see covered, please send your suggestions to Eric Grimes, egrimes at igpp.ucla.edu, and we'll try to work them in.

See below for the agenda and Webex connection info.

Eric Grimes, Jim Lewis, Vassilis Angelopoulos and the SPEDAS team

MMS Plug-ins Session:  Analyzing MMS data with SPEDAS

Time: October 26, 10am-12pm Pacific Daylight Time
URL: https://uclaigpp.webex.com/uclaigpp
Meeting name = MMS Plug-ins webinar
Password = R3c0nnect!
Phone to use: 1-888-921-8686
Conference ID/pass = 3107947090 and press # International callers dial: 001-678-259-1049

Tentative agenda:

1) Introduction to standard routines and keywords
2) Loading and plotting the EIS Data 
3) Calculating EIS pitch angle distributions
4) Generating EIS angle-angle (polar versus azimuthal) plots
5) Loading and plotting the FEEPS Data
6) Calculating FEEPS pitch angle distributions

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3. MEETING: AGU Chapman Conference on Dayside Magnetosphere Interactions, 10-14 July 2017, Chengdu, China
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From: Qiugang Zong, Philippe Escoubet, David Sibeck, Guan Le, Hui Zhang (qgzong at pku.edu.cn)

The 2017 AGU Chapman Conference on Dayside Magnetosphere Interactions will be held from 10 to 14 July 2017 in Chengdu, China.  The conference will address the processes by which solar wind mass, momentum, and energy enter the magnetosphere.  Regions of interest include (but is not limited to) the foreshock, bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause, and cusps, the dayside magnetosphere, and both the dayside polar and equatorial ionosphere.  The meeting is particularly timely due to the results expected from NASA’s MMS mission which was launched in March 2015, arrays of new ground-based instrumentation currently being installed, and the ongoing operations of NASA’s THEMIS, ESA’s Cluster, and JAXA’s Geotail missions.  Parallel processes occur at other planets, and recent results from NASA’s MAVEN mission to Mars, as well as ESA’s Mars and Venus Express missions will be actively solicited.

More information on the conference is available at the following link:
http://chapman.agu.org/dayside-magnetosphere/

Conveners:
Qiugang Zong (qgzong at pku.edu.cn)
Philippe Escoubet (Philippe.Escoubet at esa.int)
David Sibeck (david.g.sibeck at nasa.gov)
Guan Le (Guan.Le at nasa.gov)
Hui Zhang (hzhang14 at alaska.edu)

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4. BOOK: Space Weather Fundamentals
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From: George Khazanov (George.V.Khazanov at nasa.gov)

New book on Space Weather just published. Please see link below for more information.

https://www.crcpress.com/Space-Weather-Fundamentals/Khazanov/p/book/9781498749077

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5. Post-doctoral Position in Space Physics: UT Dallas
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From: Russell Stoneback (rstoneba at utdallas.edu)

The Center for Space Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas is involved in multiple upcoming space missions. To support these missions there is a post-doc position available, for up to two years, beginning as early as January, 2017.

The focus of the position is on data analysis of Ion Velocity Meter measurements across multiple platforms. IVMs are slated to fly on the upcoming NASA ICON mission, the COSMIC-2 constellation, and the SORTIE CubeSat. The position will also consider measurements from other sources, particularly the SuperDARN network of ground based radars. Candidates with general ionosphere and/or instrument experience are encouraged to apply, though direct experience with both IVM and SuperDARN is preferred. Duties will include instrument operation support, data production, data analysis, and software development, depending upon the candidate. Experience with open source development, particularly Python, is preferred.

To apply or obtain additional information follow https://jobs.utdallas.edu/postings/6793

The University of Texas at Dallas is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer (M/F/D/V).

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