[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIII, Issue 70

Fri Dec 23 15:07:45 PST 2016

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXIII, Issue 70
Dec.23,2016

Editor: Peter Chi
Co-Editor: Guan Le
Distribution Support: Sharon Uy, Marjorie Sowmendran, Todd King, Kevin Addison
E-mail: editor at igpp.ucla.edu
Announcement Submission Website: http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g

***********************************************************************

Table of Contents

1. MEETING: Virtual Access to the 20th Anniversary Workshop for the NSF/DOE Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering, January 9-11, 2017

2. MEETING: Workshop on 'Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present and Future' September 11 -14 2017, Santa Fe, New Mexico - First Announcement

3. URSI General Assembly - Commission G Programme

4. CISM Space Weather Summer School 

5. Preserving the McIntosh Map Archive for Long-Term Solar Variability Studies

6. Orbit Visualization Tool (OVT) v3.0 Available for Download

***********************************************************************

1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1

MEETING: Virtual Access to the 20th Anniversary Workshop for the NSF/DOE Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering, January 9-11, 2017

From: Vyacheslav (Slava) Lukin (vlukin at nsf.gov)

WHEN: The Workshop will take place on January 9th, 2017 through January 11th, 2017.  A detailed Workshop Agenda and the live webcast instructions for virtual access to the Workshop’s oral sessions and panel discussions is available at http://www.orau.gov/bpw2016/agenda.htm.

The NSF/DOE Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering is one of the longest running inter-agency partnerships in the federal government. For 20 years, the Partnership has supported fundamental research in plasma science and engineering covering a diverse range of scientific topics spanning experiment, theory, and computation. Now beginning its 21st year, this workshop has been organized to celebrate the accomplishments and impact of the Partnership and to discuss its future. [Due to space limitations, in-person participation in the Workshop is by invitation only.  Invitations have been extended to all who have been Principal Investigators on Partnership-funded awards.]

The workshop organizers are soliciting your thoughts and input for the Panel Discussion that will take place on the third day of the Workshop: “The Present and Future Role of the NSF/DOE Plasma Partnership in Stewarding Plasma Science.”  You are welcome to contribute your responses to the discussion questions at any time by following the DISCUSSION tab on the Workshop website http://www.orau.gov/bpw2016/ .

If you require reasonable accommodations for virtual access to the Workshop, please contact the NSF Office of Diversity and Inclusion at eeo at nsf.gov  by December 23, 2016.

On behalf of the Scientific Organizing Committee:

Ellen Zweibel, Chair (University of Wisconsin)
Jorge Rocca (Colorado State University)
Ed Thomas (Auburn University)

2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2

MEETING: Workshop on 'Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present and Future' September 11 -14 2017, Santa Fe, New Mexico - First Announcement

From: Gian Luca Delzanno, Joseph E. Borovsky (delzanno at lanl.gov)

Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present and Future
Sep 11th -14th 2017, Santa Fe (NM)
http://www.cvent.com/events/active-experiments-in-space-past-present-and-future/event-summary-73675ac6ba5745d48d181933c4783454.aspx

There is a rich history of space active experiments dating back to the 1960s. These experiments began early in the space age, where it became clear that the space environment was filled with plasma and could be rather harsh to astronauts and infrastructure. Active space experiments have had the triple goal of (1) probing basic plasma physics phenomena, (2) elucidating aspects of magnetospheric and ionospheric physics, and (3) understanding how to control the effects of the environment on space assets. Bombs, beams, heaters, releases, chemical dumps, plasma plumes, tethers, antennas, voltages are examples of active experiments spanning several decades of research. More recently, further interest towards active experiments in space has arisen, as called for in the 2012 Decadal Survey of the National Research Council, driven by important scientific applications such as magnetosphere/ionosphere coupling or radiation belt remediation.

This workshop aims at bringing together researchers interested in space-based active experiments, including experts from past and present missions, with a focus towards the future and on what fundamental scientific questions and applications could be tackled by new active experiments. The workshop seeks contributions on space-based active experiments conducted with waves and/or particles, targeting the following physics processes:
 -     Basic plasma physics;
 -     Wave-particle interactions;
 -     Coupling of plasmas and beams;
 -     Magnetosphere/ionosphere coupling.
Contributions on new technological developments that could enable future missions are also encouraged.

Specifically, the goals of the workshop are:
1.    Identify the lessons learned from past (and present) active experiments. A number of tutorial talks on those missions will be presented at the workshop.
2.    Assess the current state of space-based active experiments.
3.    Identify new opportunities and collaborations for future active experiments. What is the science that could be pursued? What are the applications? What are the gaps that need to be filled before these new ideas could be mature?
The workshop will comprise tutorial, invited and contributed talks as well as audience-participation discussion sessions.

3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3

URSI General Assembly - Commission G Programme

From: Patricia Doherty (patricia.doherty at bc.edu)

The URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium will be held from 19-26 August in the beautiful city of Montreal, Canada. The Commission G programme is now open for papers, with a closing date of 30 January 2017. An outline of the Commission G programme together with other URSI GASS details can be found at http://www.ursi2017.org/side_program/scientific_program/aboutsciprog_e.shtml

Please consider submitting an abstract to our sessions, and traveling to Montreal to attend this conference. Note that URSI supports a strong Young Scientist programme, which will provide support for young researchers under 35 to attend this meeting. Additionally, students can also participate in the Student Paper competition. Thus, this conference is an excellent opportunity for any early career scientists or students.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of URSI, the instructions for paper submission allow multiple types. Please note that the usual extended abstract of a minimum of ~250 words and a maximum of one page is sufficient for oral or poster presentation submissions in our field. However, application for a URSI Young Scientist Award requires submission of a 2-4-page summary paper. This will be used by the URSI national committees to rank the applicants and determine who gets the support. A longer paper is required to enter the Student Paper Competition. Further details can be found on the website.

4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4

CISM Space Weather Summer School 

From: Michael Wiltberger (wiltbemj at ucar.edu)

CISM Space Weather Summer School 
July 17-28 2017 
NCAR Boulder, CO 
Application Deadline: March 1 2017

The CISM Space Weather Summer School is intended to give students a comprehensive immersion in the subject of space weather: what it is, what it does, and what can be done about it. Space weather is many things: beautiful when seen through the eyes of a sun-viewing telescope, fascinating when studied for its alien worlds of magnetic structures and phenomena, awesome when witnessed as a solar eruption or auroral storm, and devastating to the users of services it disrupts. Space weather links the Sun, the Earth, and the space in between in a branching chain of consequences. Weather systems on the Sun can spawn interplanetary storms of colossal size and energy that envelop the whole planet in electrical hurricanes. Such storms attack high-tech, complex, and expensive technological systems that provide much of the infrastructure that allows modern society to function. 

Applications are welcome from upper level undergraduates and beginning graduate students interested in pursuing a career in solar and space physics, as well as professionals interested in broadening their understanding of the space environment. The school will provide support for travel and housing expenses for all US student participants. 

Course Overview 
SW 101: Solar activity, solar wind, magnetosphere, and ionosphere 
SW 102: Effects on astronauts and spacecraft, radiation hazards, communication disruptions 
SW 103: Assumptions and drivers of models, results and limitations 
SW 104: Hands on activities exploring model results and data to understand the space environment. 

For additional information on this program and instructions on how to apply http://www2.hao.ucar.edu/CISM-Summer-School/

5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5

Preserving the McIntosh Map Archive for Long-Term Solar Variability Studies

From: David Webb (david.webb at bc.edu)

In 1964, Patrick McIntosh, a scientist at NOAA’s Space Environment Center in Boulder, began creating hand-drawn synoptic maps of solar magnetic features. In all, he compiled ~45 years or nearly four complete solar sunspot cycles of maps, representing a unique record of the large-scale organization and variation of the Sun’s magnetic field, following both open and closed features. Pat passed away in October 2016, and his archive was in danger of being lost.  Although versions of the maps were archived in scanned format at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), many maps only existed in hard-copy format in boxes, and none of the scanned maps possessed metadata allowing digital search and analysis.  

The intent of the McIntosh Archive (McA) project has been first and foremost to preserve the archive in its entirety, by completing the scanning of all of the maps; this has been achieved. Beyond this, a procedure has been designed and implemented to standardize the size and orientation of the digital maps, to remove any unnecessary notes, marks or symbols, and to colorize the maps so that each magnetic feature is uniquely searchable. To date, full processing of solar cycle 23 and the beginning of 24 (1996-2009) has been achieved, and the team continues to work backwards through the earlier maps.  All maps -- both original, and where available, processed -- are archived at NOAA/NCEI. Please see https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/mcintosh-archive/four-cycles-solar-synoptic-maps for details about how to access the McA and some examples of applications of these data for solar cycle studies.

David Webb, Sarah Gibson, Ian Hewins, Robert McFadden, Barbara Emery, William Denig

6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6

Orbit Visualization Tool (OVT) v3.0 Available for Download

From: Yuri Khotyaintsev (yuri at irfu.se)

The Orbit Visualization Tool (Version 3) for Mac, Windows and Linux can now be downloaded at http://ovt.irfu.se/

A number of improvements and new functionalities have been added in this release, which include import of spacecraft orbits from SSCweb (MMS, THEMIS, Van Allen Probes,..) and usage of OMNI data as input for the models. See brief release notes and OVT User Guide for more details:
http://ovt.irfu.se/releases/current/RELNOTES.html
http://ovt.irfu.se/releases/current/userguide.html

This update to OVT was funded by ESA.

***** SUBSCRIPTION AND ANNOUNCEMENT REQUESTS *****

The AGU Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) Section Newsletter is issued approximately twice weekly. Back issues are available at:

http://spa.agu.org/category/newsletters/

NEW: To request announcements for distribution by the newsletter, please use the online submission form at:
http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g

NEW: To subscribe to the newsletter, please go to the web page at:
http://lists.igpp.ucla.edu/mailman/listinfo/spa
(IMPORTANT: Do not use this web page to post announcements.)

Note: Announcements for SPA-related sessions at major conferences, such as AGU, AOGS, COSPAR, EGU, and IAGA Meetings, are distributed in special issues of the Newsletter.

SPA Web Site: http://spa.agu.org/

*************** END OF NEWSLETTER ****************