[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIII, Issue 14

Wed Mar 16 17:55:14 PDT 2016

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXIII, Issue 1
March 16, 2016

Editor: Peter Chi
Co-Editor: Guan Le
Distribution Support: Sharon Uy, Todd King, Kevin Addison
Email: editor at igpp.ucla.edu       

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Table of Contents

1. AGU Scarf Award - Call for Nominations

2. Call for Community Input to LWS TR&T Science Topics

3. Attention Space Physics Educators and Students Alike. It Is Time to Beta Test spacephysics.ucla.edu

4. MEETING: Second Announcement of Working Meeting on the Harmonization of SEP Calibrations, April 25, 2016, Broomfield, Colorado

5. MEETING: Call for Abstracts for ISROSES III: 12-16 September 12-16. 2016, Bulgaria

6. JOB OPENING: Permanent Research Position in Heliophysics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

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AGU Scarf Award - Call for Nominations

From: Gang Lu (ganglu at ucar.edu)

Established in 1989, the F.L. Scarf Award is given annually to one honoree in recognition of an outstanding dissertation that contributes directly to solar-planetary science. The Scarf awardee will give an invited talk on his/her dissertation topic at the AGU Fall Meeting. Eligible candidates should have been awarded the degree of Ph.D. (or highest equivalent terminal degree) and have completed their degree requirements during the 17-month time period prior to the award presentation year (from 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2015). The deadline for nominations is April 15, 2016.

The award includes the following tangible benefits:

• $1,000.00 monetary prize
• Award certificate
• Announcement in EOS
• Invitation to present a talk on the dissertation topic at the AGU Fall Meeting during the award presentation year
• Recognition at the AGU Fall Meeting during the award presentation year
• Complimentary ticket to the Space Physics and Aeronomy section dinner at the AGU Fall Meeting during the award presentation year

More details about eligibility, required documentation, and nomination procedures can be found at: http://honors.agu.org/nomination/fred-l-scarf-award/ or contact Gang Lu (ganglu at ucar.edu) for additional information.

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Call for Community Input to LWS TR&T Science Topics

From: Mark Linton (mark.linton at nrl.navy.mil)

The 2016 NASA Living with a Star Targeted Research and Technology (LWS TR&T) Steering Committee will soon begin developing the next round of LWS focused science topics and strategic capability topics, for ROSES 2017. It is vital for the success of the LWS TR&T program that there be active community engagement in the development of annual TR&T science topics. We are therefore asking the Heliophysics community to provide input by April 26, 2016 for these topics.

Suggested science topics should be organized around achieving the goals set out in the strategic science areas (SSA’s) articulated in the LWS Ten Year Vision (http://lwstrt.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/pdf/LWS_10YrVision_Oct2015_Final.pdf),

Physics-based Understanding to Enable Forecasting of:
• SSA-0, Solar Electromagnetic, Energetic Particle, and Plasma Outputs Driving the Solar System Environment and Inputs to Earth’s Atmosphere
• SSA-1, Geomagnetic Variability
• SSA-2, Satellite Drag
• SSA-3, Solar Energetic Particle
• SSA-4, Total Electron Content
• SSA-5, Ionospheric Scintillation
• SSA-6, Radiation Environment

The structure of a topic should indicate a target description, the targeted SSAs, goals and measures of success, types of investigations, interactions with user communities and expected deliverables.

Input may be entered through the LWS TR&T website:

http://lwstrt.gsfc.nasa.gov/steering-committee/community-input

We greatly look forward to your input and to continuing on the path of innovation and scientific exploration in the LWS program.

LWS Steering Committee Members:
Eftyhia Zesta (Co-Chair), Mark Linton (Co-Chair), Yuri Shprits, Scott McIntosh, Nathan Schwadron, Karel Schrijver, Jim Slavin, Chadi Salem, Alexa Halford, Pontus Brandt, Tim Bastian, Kent Tobiska

Liaisons:
Terry Onsager, Rodney Veireck, Ilia Roussev, Vyacheslav Lukin, Masha Kuznetsova, Mona Kessel, Dean Pesnell, Dave Sibeck, Adam Szabo, Chris St Cyr

Ex Officio:
Elsayed Talaat, Jeff Morrill, Shing Fung

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Attention Space Physics Educators and Students Alike. It Is Time to Beta Test spacephysics.ucla.edu

From: Chris Russell (ctrussel at igpp.ucla.edu)

In preparation for the appearance of their new textbook: Space Physics: An Introduction, Chris Russell, Janet Luhmann and Bob Strangeway announce that the space physics exercises that they have been using for their classes at UCLA are now available at spacephysics.ucla.edu. They would appreciate any and all comments from those willing to beta test these programs. Many of these exercises are designed to be used in 'traditional' laboratory classes in which students measure physical phenomena and write lab reports. While such exercises are given in the problem sets in the new text book the spacephysics exercises can be utilized in many different ways according to an instructor's needs.

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MEETING: Second Announcement of Working Meeting on the Harmonization of SEP Calibrations, April 25, 2016, Broomfield, Colorado

From: Juan Rodriguez (juan.rodriguez at noaa.gov)

NOAA will host the fourth in a series of working meetings on the Harmonization of Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) Data Calibrations (HSDC). It will take place from 1-5 PM on Monday, April 25, 2016, before the Monday evening ice breaker for the 2016 Space Weather Workshop, at the Omni Interlocken Hotel in Broomfield, Colorado (10 miles / 16 km from the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder). Previous meetings in this series were held in Boulder in April 2014, in Liège in November 2014, and in Leuven and Oostende in November 2015, the meetings in Belgium having been held in association with the Eleventh and Twelfth European Space Weather Weeks.

A report on the first HSDC working meeting was published in Space Weather in November of that year (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014SW001134/full). One outcome of this meeting was the identification of the January 2014 SEP events as the best opportunity in the present solar cycle for SEP cross-calibration, in order to improve inter-operability of current SEP observations.  Another outcome was a recommendation to draft a set of guidelines for on-orbit cross-calibration of SEP measurements that address ten questions listed in the Space Weather report. 

The purpose of the upcoming meeting is to report progress on cross-calibrations and to work on the guidelines outlined at the first working meeting.  Of note is the recent release of LANL Global Positioning System (GPS) energetic particle data for January 2014 (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/space-weather/satellite-data/satellite-systems/gps/). While the motivation for this working group is SEP calibrations, illuminating discussions of cross-calibrations of other environmental measurements are welcome.  One desired outcome is a plan for a special issue on energetic particle cross-calibration in a refereed journal.

If you are interested in attending this meeting, please send an e-mail to Juan Rodriguez (juan.rodriguez at noaa.gov), with a cc: to Terry Onsager (terry.onsager at noaa.gov) by April 8, 2016.  This is for planning purposes as there is no formal registration for this meeting (as distinct from the Space Weather Workshop, http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/annual-meeting).  If you would like to give a presentation, please include a title.  Our goal is to balance time for presentations and open discussion.

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MEETING: Call for Abstracts for ISROSES III: 12-16 September 12-16. 2016, Bulgaria

From: Vania Jordanova (vania at lanl.gov)

Abstract submission and registration for the International Symposium on Recent Observations and Simulations of the Sun-Earth System III (ISROSES III) in Golden Sands, Bulgaria, is now open.

The purpose of the conference is to improve present understanding of the complex, multi-scale, interactions in the Sun-Earth system (from deep within the Sun to the Earth’s atmosphere) by creating a forum for researchers from all space science communities to present and discuss recent advances and future research directions.

The scientific discussions will include but are not limited to the following themes:
     - Interactions and coupling within the Sun-Earth system
     - Advances in measurement, theory, and simulations of the Sun-Earth 
system
     - Reaction of the Earth system to the Sun and the solar wind
     - Recent research in space weather science and applications

Format: Talks, posters, and audience-participation discussions.

Important Deadlines:
1 May 2016: Abstract submission.
1 June 2016: Travel fellowship applications.
1 July 2016: Early bird registration.

Further information about this meeting and details on how to submit your abstract, registration, etc. can be found at:
http://www.isroses.lanl.gov/
You can also find there a high-resolution version of the conference poster, available for download. We would like to encourage you to display this poster at your institution or campus.

The conveners:
Vania Jordanova, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
Joe Borovsky, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA

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JOB OPENING: Permanent Research Position in Heliophysics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

From: Adam Szabo (Adam.Szabo at nasa.gov)

The Heliospheric Physics Laboratory, Heliophysics Science Division, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center seeks a research scientist with expertise in the area of Heliophysics and more specifically thermal and/or energetic particle physics focusing on either the development of thermal or energetic charged particle instrumentation or scientific data analysis of heliospheric or magnetospheric particles. 

Candidates having at least one year of experience in spacecraft data analysis or spacecraft instrumentation development is required. U.S. citizenship is required. A Ph.D. degree in physics, geophysics, astrophysics or related discipline is highly desirable. The appointment begins in mid 2016. The appointment is for a GS-13 position with salary commensurate with the applicant’s past experience. 

To view the full vacancy announcement, which contains further information including qualification requirements and application instructions, go to
http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/432595000.
A guide to the application process can be found at
https://applyonline.nasa.gov/applicant_guide.html.
The application will be open between March 16 and April 14, 2016. Applications must be received by April 14, 2016 via the USAJobs website. For additional questions, please contact Dr. Adam Szabo, Chief/Heliospheric Physics Laboratory, via e-mail at Adam.Szabo at nasa.gov.

NASA GSFC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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