[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXII, Issue 48

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXII, Issue 48
August 19, 2015

Editor: Peter Chi
Co-Editors: Guan Le, Sharon Uy
Email: editor at igpp.ucla.edu       

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Table of Contents

1. AGU Geophysical Research Letters Seeking New Editors
2. MEETING: Science for Space Weather - 2016 ILWS Workshop, January 23-29, 2016 in Goa, India
3. CALL FOR PAPERS: JASTP Special Issue on "Effects of the solar wind and interplanetary disturbances on the Earth's atmosphere and climate"
4. JOB OPENING: Associate Professor in Space Physics, University of Bergen, Norway
5. JOB OPENING: Postdoc (3 year) Position in Plasma and Space Physics at the University of Oslo, Norway
6. JOB OPENING: Ionosphere Research Engineer at Space Dynamics Laboratory

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AGU Geophysical Research Letters Seeking New Editors

From: Bill Peterson and Benoit Lavraud (blavraud at irap.omp.eu), Current GRL Editors

AGU is looking for dynamic, well-organized scientists with high editorial standards and strong leadership skills to serve as Editors of Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). GRL publishes short, concise research letters that present scientific advances that are likely to have immediate influence on the research of other investigators. The journal is
currently looking for candidates in the areas of Earth structure, terrestrial biogeochemistry, space sciences, and Earth observations (including imaging of Earth’s interior and remote sen sing of the surface environment). The new Editors
will be appointed for 3-year terms, beginning January 1, 2016. 
 
Applicants should be respected leaders in the community, independent-minded, and even-handed. As Editor you should be (1) committed to further strengthen GRL as a leading AGU letters journal, (2) proactive in attracting innovative contributions in both traditional disciplines and emerging fields, and (3) able to commit to GRL’s fast publication pace. The Union is interested in attracting papers in developing areas and ensuring that readers of GRL receive the highest impact peer-reviewed scientific results in the most timely fashion possible.
 
As Editor you will
* Have full authority to accept or reject submitted papers
* Handle the review process
* Seek out stimulating papers for inclusion in the journal.
 
If you would like to be considered as an Editor of GRL, send your curriculum vitae with a letter of interest via email to pubmatters at agu.org. If you would like to nominate a highly qualified colleague, send a letter of recommendation to the same email address. Please make sure that you specify GRL in the subject line of the email.


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MEETING: Science for Space Weather - 2016 ILWS Workshop, January 23-29, 2016 in Goa, India 

From: Bob Wimmer (wimmer at physik.uni-kiel.de)

Science for Space Weather: 2016 ILWS Workshop 
January 23 - 29, 2016 in Goa, India

Understanding and being able to forecast space weather is an increasingly important aspect of our modern technology-reliant society. This workshop will treat all aspects of space weather, ranging from solar origins of transient events (CMEs, Flares, CIRs) to their propagation through the heliosphere and effects on Earth and planetary bodies, from particle energization to forecasting particle environment and its effects on technological and biological systems, as well as solar-cycle effects and coupling of space weather to atmospheric response. Metrics to assess predictions will also be discussed. The workshop is structured along the lines of the COSPAR space weather pathways and will include invited, contributed talks and posters, as well as panel discussions and tutorials.

This workshop is being jointly organized by the International Living with a Star (ILWS) Program, Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the SCOSTEP-VarSITI Program and hosted by the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (CESSI). The workshop will be held in the seaside town of Goa situated on the western coast of India. 

Workshop web page: http://www.cessi.in/ssw/index.html

Hotel reservation deadline: September 30, 2015
Early-bird registration deadline (fee: USD 350): September 30, 2015
Normal registration deadline (fee: USD 400): November 20, 2015
Abstract submission deadline: November 20, 2015
On-site registration (fee: USD 500): January 23, 2016

SOC: 
Anil Bhardwaj (ISRO, India)
Jörg Büchner (MPS, Germany)
Ioannis Daglis (Univ. Athens, Greece)
Philippe Escoubet (ESA, The Netherlands)
Alexis Glover (ESA, Germany)
Nat Gopalswamy (NASA/GSFC, USA)
Manuel Grande	 (Univ. Aberystwyth, UK)
Lika Guhathakurta (NASA, USA)
Don Hassler (IAS/SwRI, France/USA)
David Jackson (Met Office, UK)
Masha Kuznetsova (GSFC, USA)
Cristina Mandrini (IAFE, Argentina)
Arnaud Masson (ESA/ESAC, Spain)
Tsutomu Nagatsuma (NICT, Japan)
Dibyendu Nandi (CESSI/IISER-K, India)
Paul O'Brien (Aerospace Corp., USA)
Terry Onsager (NOAA, USA)
Hermann Opgenoorth (Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden)
Manuela Temmer (Univ. Graz, Austria)
Chi Wang (NSSC, China)
William Ward (Univ. Brunswick, Canada)
Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber (Univ. Kiel, Germany (chair))

LOC:
Dipankar Banerjee (IIA, India)  
Dibyendu Nandi (CESSI/IISER-K, India (chair))
Shayma Narendranath (ISRO, India)
Janardhan Padmanabhan (PRL, India)
Nandita Srivastava (USO/PRL, India)
Prasad Subramanian (IISER, India)
Durgesh Tripathi (IUCAA, India)


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CALL FOR PAPERS: JASTP Special Issue on "Effects of the solar wind and interplanetary disturbances on the Earth's atmosphere and climate"

From: Irina Mironova (irini.mironova at gmail.com)

We would like to invite papers for Special Issue of Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics:

"Effects of the solar wind and interplanetary disturbances on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate" 

Guest editors:

Katya Georgieva - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Space Research and Technology Institute, kgeorgieva at space.bas.bg

Alan Aylward - University College London, Department of Physics and Astronomy, a.aylward at ucl.ac.uk

Irina Mironova - Institute of Physics, St. Petersburg State University, mironova at geo.phys.spbu.ru

Eugene Rozanov - World Radiation Center, Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, eugene.rozanov at pmodwrc.ch

Brian Tinsley - University of Texas at Dallas, Physics Department, tinsley at utdallas.edu 

Scope of the issue: 

This special issue will summarise the present level of knowledge and the new ideas about the effects of the solar wind and interplanetary disturbances on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate, and the mechanisms by which these influences are transmitted from the top to the bottom of the atmosphere. Attempts to include these mechanisms in climate models will also be highlighted. Part of the papers will represent the results of the of two International Space Science Institute research teams: “Effects of Interplanetary Disturbances on the Earth’s Atmosphere and Climate” and “Specification of Ionization Sources Affecting Atmospheric Processes”, and of the COST ES-1005 action TOSCA (“Towards a more complete assessment of the impact of solar variability on the Earth’s climate”. However, the issue is open for all scientists interested  in both theoretical and empirical studies of the effects of solar wind and interplanetary disturbances on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate.  

Important dates:

submission deadline – October 1, 2015

acceptance deadline – March 1, 2016. 

Instructions for submission:

The submission website for this journal is located at: http://ees.elsevier.com/atp/default.asp. To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for inclusion into the special issue it is important that authors select SI: Solar Wind and climate when they reach the “Article Type” step in the submission process.


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JOB OPENING: Associate Professor in Space Physics, University of Bergen, Norway

From: Nikolai Østgaard" (Nikolai.Ostgaard at ift.uib.no)

The Space Physics group at the Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen (UB) has now an open permanent position at the Associate Professor level.  The position will be part of the Birkeland Centre for Space Science (BCSS), one of the newly established Centre of Excellence. BCSS was established on March 1, 2013, with substantial funding for the next 5 years, and following a positive outcome of a mid-term evaluation the funding will be extended for another 5 years.  BCSS consists of the space physics groups at UB, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University Centre at Svalbard (UNIS) and is led by UB. BCSS is organized in two instrument groups, one Education and Public Outreach group, and four research groups, which will address the following scientific questions:
 
Q1) When and why is the aurora in the two hemispheres asymmetric?
Q2) How do we get beyond the static large scale picture of the ionosphere?
Q3) What are the effects of particle precipitation on the atmospheric system?
Q4) What is the role of energetic particles from thunderstorms in geospace?
 
The space physics group at UB has been involved in designing and building of detectors and readout electronics for many decades, and has now a close collaboration with the micro-electronics group  at the Department of Physics and Technology. We have designed and built payloads and instruments for balloons, rockets and satellites, and were heavily involved in instruments flying on Polar, INTEGRAL and SIR-2. This activity is now organized in the space instrumentation group of BCSS at UB. Currently we are building a large X- and gamma-ray detector for ASIM, which will be flown on the International Space Station in 2017. We are also building smaller X- and gamma-ray detectors that will fly on balloons (COBRAT) and aircraft campaigns.
 
For this associate professor position we are looking for a candidate that will participate in the leadership of the Q4 research group. The Q4 group focuses on hard radiation from thunderstorms. The Q4 group has one professor, one researcher, three postdocs, and two PhD students. The Q4 group is also closely connected to the space instrumentation group, which is developing several new scientific instruments for the Q4 team. The successful candidate should have a strong background in the field of hard radiation from thunderstorms and extensive understanding of instrument development and performance.
The successful candidate should document project and team management skills. The publication profile and a successful track-record of winning grant proposals will also be evaluated. The candidate should also take part in the experimental efforts of BCSS.  We are looking for a team builder that is creative and is able to take on and develop own initiatives in the field covered by the Q4 research theme.
 
For further information about the position please contact Professor Nikolai Østgaard, phone (+47) 55 58 27 94; e-mail nikolai.ostgaard at uib.no.
 
Salary will be in the range of 64–72 (code 1011/pay framework 24) in the Civil Service pay grade table; currently NOK 550 400–640 700 gross p.a. In the case of particularly highly qualified applicants higher salaries may be considered.
 
The full description of this announcement as well as instructions for applicants can be found at

https://birkeland.uib.no/associate-professor-space-physics

or
 
http://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/115986/associate-professor-in-space-physics
 
and the Application has to be submitted electronically through 

http://www.jobbnorge.no

Closing date for applications: 31 Aug 2015


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JOB OPENING: Postdoc (3 year) Position in Plasma and Space Physics at the University of Oslo, Norway

From: Wojciech Jacek Miloch (w.j.miloch at fys.uio.no)

A postdoctoral position in computational and space plasma physics is available at the Plasma and Space Physics section, Department of Physics, University of Oslo. The position is for a period of 3 years. The starting date is as soon as possible, and no later than December 1, 2015. Application deadline: 20 September 2015

Job/Project description:

The position is funded through the research project "Cometary plasma environment studied by the Rosetta spacecraft". The Rosetta spacecraft is currently accompanying the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and providing measurements of the comet environment and activity on the journey towards the Sun. This is the first time ever a comet is studied in such a detail. The research project is primarily concerned with analysis of data from the Rosetta spacecraft, in particular from the Langmuir probe (LAP) and other instruments within the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC), as well as numerical modeling of the probe performance in the complex plasma environment. One of the main questions addressed is the role of dust in the plasma composition and dynamic plasma phenomena in the vicinity of a comet. A part of the project is related to data analysis from a sounding rocket for the dusty plasma experiment.

The successful postdoctoral candidate will be responsible for:
1) The development of the existing particle-in-cell (PIC) numerical codes to account for the object-plasma interaction in the context of the Rosetta mission.
2) Numerical studies of the probe performance under complex (dusty) plasma environments.
3) Analysis of data from the Langmuir probe (RPC/LAP) to characterize dynamical plasma phenomena around the comet.

The candidate is expected to actively collaborate with national partners, as well as international partners in Sweden, USA, and the RPC team. The fellowship also includes longer visits/stays abroad (up to six months' research stay).

The working environment will be the section for Plasma and Space Physics, Department of Physics. The section is a part of the interdisciplinary 4DSpace Strategic Research Initiative at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo, combining Departments of Physics, Informatics, and Mathematics.  For more information about the 4DSpace Strategic Research Initiative see here. 

Requirements:

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition of being a leading research faculty. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

All applicants must possess PhD-degree in Physics or Astrophysics or similar education. They must have a strong background in plasma physics and experience in programming in C/C++ or Fortran.  Experience in studying object-plasma interaction (for example: spacecraft charging, probe performance, complex (dusty) plasmas), as well as in data advanced data analysis from space or laboratory experiments will be an advantage, but is not obligatory.

The following aspects of the candidate's background will be given particular attention, and thus they should be addressed and documented in the application:

- Background in numerical modeling, in particular the particle-in-cell (PIC) method and computing in a parallel environment (if applicable, please provide short description of the codes developed)
- Publication list (please highlight up to three publication for detailed assessment)
- Experience from previous projects (please provide a short description and results of the projects).

For the full announcement and to apply see:http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1435826/64282?iso=gb
More about 4DSpace Strategic Research Initiative: www.mn.uio.no/4dspace/


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JOB OPENING: Ionosphere Research Engineer at Space Dynamics Laboratory

From: Kory Jenkins (Kory.Jenkins at usurf.usu.edu)

Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) is seeking an Ionospheric Research Engineer to support efforts at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM.  The position will work in the area of ionospheric RF and other instrumentation, measurements, and data analysis.  Scientific and engineering capabilities must span broad ranges of disciplines.  Will work on ionospheric experiments and instrumentation including theory, design, construction, testing, deployment, operation, maintenance, repair, calibration, data collection, data analysis, research, and publication preparation, to include development of control software and analysis tools under Windows and Linux environments. Must be able to apply knowledge of plasma physics, RF systems, electronics, and data analysis packages such as MatLab, IDL, Python, etc. to accomplish laboratory and field tasks.

PhD (or MS with experience) in Engineering, Space Sciences, Physics or related field.  Applicant should be familiar with basic ionospheric measurement techniques, analog, digital, and RF electronics and data acquisition, and common programming languages and analysis tools. Hands-on experience with HF sounders, radars, beacon receivers, or software-defined radio systems a plus.  Ability to work as part of a team, but must also be a self-starter and be able to work independently.  Position may involve occasional domestic and international travel for ionospheric measurements or equipment installation or maintenance, sometimes to remote sites with limited transportation or facilities.  Must be U.S. citizen with the ability to obtain a DoD security clearance.  To apply go to www.sdljobs.org


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