[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIII, Issue 21

[Newsletter Editor]

[title SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIII, Issue 21]

[category newsletter-volume-xxii-2016]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXIII, Issue 21
May.01,2016

Editor: Peter Chi
Co-Editor: Guan Le
Distribution Support: Marjorie Sowmendran, Todd King, Kevin Addison
E-mail: editor at igpp.ucla.edu

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Table of Contents

1. Message from the SPA President

2. MEETING: Observation and Analysis Opportunities Collaborating with the ICON and  GOLD Missions, September 27-28, 2016

3. MEETING: SDO 2016 - Unraveling the Sun’s Complexity, October 17-21, 2016, Burlington, VT

4. MEETING: 7th Solar Orbitor Workshop: Exploring the Solar Environs, April 3-6, 2017, Granada, Spain

5. STFC Advanced Summer School in Solar System Physics 2016

6. Topical Issue of Solar Physics on “Earth-affecting Solar Transients”

7. RHESSI Science Nuggets in April 2016

8. JOB OPENING: Research Fellow in Extreme Environments : Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

9. PhD position in Space and Plasma Physics (modeling of space weather) at the Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway

10. PhD Student Position in Space Plasma Physics (Graz, Austria)

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Message from the SPA President

From: David Sibeck (david.g.sibeck at nasa.gov)

Dear SPA Section Members,

As members of the SPA section, you benefit from your involvement in the AGU. In turn, much of the AGU’s success results from the generous support of individuals like you who are committed to the future of the Earth and space sciences.  AGU recently announced an “incentive program” which offers additional funding to sections and focus groups that meet certain minimum requirements (see http://sites.agu.org/leadership/sections-focus-groups/section-and-focus-group-incentive-program).  If enough SPA members contribute $50 or more to any AGU fund, our section will receive additional financial support from the AGU.  

In 2015, the SPA was one of four sections to qualify for this additional financial support.  Consequently, our section received an additional $1,000 in AGU support for activities ranging from honoraria for prize winners to refreshments at our Fall AGU reception.

Please consider donating this year.

Sincerely,

David Sibeck
SPA Section President


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MEETING: Observation and Analysis Opportunities Collaborating with the ICON and  GOLD Missions, September 27-28, 2016

From: Stan Solomon (stans at ucar.edu)

September 27-28, 2016

NCAR High Altitude Observatory, 3080 Center Green Dr., Boulder, Colorado

With a confluence of new satellite missions and ground-based observations, there is an unprecedented opportunity for solving significant outstanding problems in near-Earth space weather. Starting in 2017, two new NASA missions, ICON and GOLD, will observe the thermosphere and ionosphere using optical and in-situ instruments. The international COSMIC-2 constellation will map the ionosphere using GPS occultation. Enhanced ground-based observatories, cubesats, and other satellite constellations, will also provide essential new measurements. Combining these tools to effectively address questions in ion-neutral coupling and upper-atmosphere dynamics will require a comprehensive scientific strategy for broad community participation. This workshop will present information on the goals and instrumentation of the space-based missions, and invites contributions proposing complementary ground-based observations, modeling, and data synthesis.  A report will be compiled, summarizing opportunities for discovery using future observational and modeling methods.

The workshop is sponsored by the NSF Geospace Section, and will be hosted by the NCAR High Altitude Observatory at its Center Green facility in Boulder, Colorado.  All are welcome to attend, including the solar, heliospheric, magnetospheric, and atmospheric communities, whose interests overlap the core thermosphere-ionosphere investigations.

For more information see http://www2.hao.ucar.edu/geogoldicon or contact Stan Solomon, stans at ucar.edu, High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado.


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MEETING: SDO 2016 - Unraveling the Sun’s Complexity, October 17-21, 2016, Burlington, VT

From: Vanessa George (Vanessa.George at lasp.colorado.edu)

SDO 2016:  Unraveling the Sun’s Complexity
Oct. 17-21, 2016   *   Burlington, VT

Living With a Star's Solar Dynamics Observatory invites you to its 2016 Science Workshop “SDO 2016: Unraveling the Sun’s Complexity,” October 17-21, 2016, at the Sheraton Conference Center in Burlington, VT.   All members of the science community are welcome and encouraged to attend.  To submit your abstract, reserve your hotel room, register, apply for a Metcalf Travel Award, or review the science program details, please visit our website:  http://SDO2016.lws-sdo-workshops.org.

Important Due Dates:

Abstracts:  July 15 

Metcalf Travel Award Applications:  June 15

Early Registration & Hotel Reservation:  September 16

Abstracts are solicited for presentations describing solar research in the following eight broad areas:  1) Motions Inside the Sun, 2) The Evolution of Active Regions, 3) Studies of Solar Eruptive Events (SEEs), 4) Motions Near and Above the Solar Surface, 5) Atmospheric Dynamics and Sources of the Solar Wind, 6) Solar Magnetic Variability and the Solar Cycle, 7) The Sun as a Star, and 8) Space Weather at the Earth and other Planets.

With a great science program and Vermont’s beautiful fall foliage in mid-October, we hope you make plans to join us.  Submit your abstract today! 

Sincerely,
The Scientific Organizing Committee for SDO 2016:  
W. Dean Pesnell (chair), Charles Baldner, Mark Cheung, Frank Eparvier, Meng Jin, Aimee Norton, and Barbara Thompson


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MEETING: 7th Solar Orbitor Workshop: Exploring the Solar Environs, April 3-6, 2017, Granada, Spain

From: Ada Ortiz-Carbonell (ada at iaa.es)

Dear Colleagues, 

Please mark your calendars:

EXPLORING THE SOLAR ENVIRONS
7th Solar Orbiter Workshop

to be held from 3rd to 6th of April 2017 at the Granada Convention Center (Granada, Spain). This event will be hosted by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia - CSIC. 

Please mind that on April 7th the 20th SWT meeting will take place at the same venue.

Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta (on behalf of the SOC and the LOC)


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STFC Advanced Summer School in Solar System Physics 2016

From: Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen  (robertus at sheffield.ac.uk)

4 – 9 September 2016
http://sp2rc.group.shef.ac.uk/assssp16

The 2016 STFC Advanced Summer School in Solar System Physics (ASSSSP16) is organised and hosted by SP2RC (Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre, Sheffield University). The School programme consist of a set of advanced lectures providing a broad overview of the Sun and solar system plasmas. The ASSSSP is an ideal training for PhD students who have already started their PhD. Early-career postdocs are also highly welcome.

Registration is now open, see the website for further information.

*** Deadline for Registration: 5pm GST, 10 June 2016. ***

Full funding is available, on a first-come first-served basis, for STFC-supported and self-funding PhD students with priority given to STFC students.

Contact: Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen 
Email: robertus at sheffield.ac.uk


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Topical Issue of Solar Physics on “Earth-affecting Solar Transients”

From: Jie Zhang (jzhang7 at gmu.edu)

We solicit research articles on the subject of Earth-affecting Solar Transients. In the past decade, nearly continuous observations of the Sun and the inner heliosphere with an unprecedented wide spatial coverage from a fleet of spacecraft, including STEREO Ahead/Behind, SDO, SOHO, Messenger, Venus Express, ACE and WIND, in combination with a significant advancement of global MHD numerical simulation and theoretical analysis, have greatly improved our understanding of solar transients and the prediction of their potential impact on Earth. Recently, the ISEST (International Study of Earth-affecting Solar Transients) Program was launched to bring together scientists across many countries to join efforts on addressing this problem. The event catalogs, data and information used during the past three ISEST workshops can be found at http://solar.gmu.edu/heliophysics/index.php/Main_Page. The ISEST is one of the four projects of the VarSITI (Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact) Program, sponsored by SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics) for the period 2014 – 2018. 

Earth-affecting solar transients encompass a broad range of phenomena, including major solar flares, CMEs, ICMEs, solar energetic particle events, and co-rotating interaction regions. We solicit research articles that address, but are not limited to, the following questions: (1) how do various geo-effective phenomena originate? (2) how do they propagate and evolve in the inner heliosphere? (3) how can we reconcile in-situ and  remote-sensing data on the transients? (4) how can we predict the probability of arrival, time of arrival, and geo-effectiveness of these phenomena? (5) what kind of solar wind transients are geoeffective and why? Articles on observational, numerical, and theoretical studies are all welcome. We particularly encourage results on campaign events listed in the ISEST website. This Topical Issue is not a conference proceedings volume and is not limited to research presented at the ISEST workshops. All submissions must be original papers that meet the quality and peer-review standards of Solar Physics.

The deadline for the Statement of Interest (SOI) is 15 June 2016, and the deadline for manuscript submission is 15 September 2016. Please submit the SOI (i.e., title, authors, a short abstract, and three potential referees) to Jie Zhang at jzhang7 at gmu.edu. 

Guest Editors: Jie Zhang, Alejandro Lara, Nandita Srivastava, and Xochitl Blanco-Cano.  Solar Physics Editor: Cristina Mandrini (mandrini at iafe.uba.ar).


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RHESSI Science Nuggets in April 2016

From: Hugh Hudson (hhudson at ssl.berkeley.edu)

No. 271, “Radio polarization signatures in twisted flare loops” by Ivan Sharykin and Alexei Kuznetsov: Flux-rope geometry via radio polarization signs

No. 272, “Extreme events, stellar evolution, and magnetic reconnection” by Hugh Hudson: Stellar activity measured by flare rates over the eons.

See http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets listing the current series, 2008-present, and http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/nuggets/ for the original series, 2005-2008.

We publish these at roughly two-week intervals and welcome contributions, which should be related, at least loosely, to RHESSI science.


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JOB OPENING: Research Fellow in Extreme Environments : Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

From: James McLaughlin  (james.a.mclaughlin at northumbria.ac.uk; )

Research Fellow in Extreme Environments (3 years, then with expectation of progression to permanent)

Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

https://work4.northumbria.ac.uk/hrvacs/eae1534 

Closing Date = 12 May 2016

Northumbria University is investing in several multidisciplinary research themes. Solar Physics is one of the research areas relevant to the “Extreme Environments” multidisciplinary research theme. Hence, I wanted to bring this opportunity to your attention.

The “Vice-Chancellor” Fellowship will be for three years in the first instance with the expectation of progression to a permanent academic position at the end of the Fellowship subject to satisfactory progress.
The Extreme Environments multidisciplinary research theme is a university-wide initiative which draws together ground-breaking research in understanding and harnessing physical and biological environments that operate under extreme conditions, such as those found in the Earth's surface, subsurface, oceans, atmosphere and in the solar system. Theme expertise ranges from the geophysical exploration of Antarctic subglacial lakes, responses of glaciers, snow cover and permafrost to climate change through the investigation of nonlinear waves, the Sun-Earth connection, solar physics and space weather, to the reconstruction of past extreme climates using ocean cores, speleothems and pollen records.

We seek to appoint high calibre individuals at Research Fellow or Senior Research Fellow level, with an excellent international reputation in research areas relevant to the Extreme Environments multidisciplinary research theme. 

You will be based in the Department of Mathematics & Information Sciences or the Department of Geography as appropriate to your disciplinary strengths. You will drive and enhance the highest quality research, teaching and entrepreneurial activities and actively encourage this amongst colleagues. The Departments have particular strengths in solar physics, computer science, environmental geochemistry & microbiology, mathematics, cold and palaeoenvironments, physics and statistics.

Candidates with expertise in any of these research areas are welcome to apply, and we will consider high quality applicants in any fields of research relevant to the Extreme Environments theme.

For informal enquiries about this post please contact: Dr James McLaughlin (Solar Physics and Mathematics) at james.a.mclaughlin at northumbria.ac.uk 

Job advert and further details can be found here:  https://work4.northumbria.ac.uk/hrvacs/eae1534   


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PhD position in Space and Plasma Physics (modeling of space weather) at the Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway

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

Application deadline: 7. May 2016. 

Project description:
The position is 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. 4DSpace is working towards integrated studies of ionospheric turbulence with multi-point, multi-scale studies with a new generation of sounding rockets and satellites, and cutting edge numerical and analytical models. The centre is active with in-situ measurements (such as the ICI-rocket series, CubeSTAR, or European Space Agency projects), ground-based observations, and development of instruments as well as miniaturized payloads and sub-payloads for rockets and satellites. Modeling of plasma instabilities and turbulence is carried out with fluid as well as particle-in-cell numerical codes. 

The announced position is part of the Research and Innovation initiative of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, UiO. Within the project Improving global positioning systems - forecasting ionospheric interference, the successful candidate will lay the foundations for a space weather forecast in the Nordic region, with a particular focus on the signal availability and integrity of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) like GPS, GLONASS and Galileo. The project will involve multi-instrument studies of space weather phenomena in order to establish a sound understanding of the underlying physics. Furthermore, the successful candidate is expected to develop a prototype model capable of forecasting GNSS signal quality. The candidate will work closely together with experts from all of the involved departments as well as industry partners.

Requirements and qualifications:

The successful candidate must hold a Master's degree or equivalent in Physics, Geophysics, Mathematics, or related discipline.

We strongly encourage applications from candidates with background in space physics or/and modeling.

Since the project is aimed at laying the foundations for a commercial forecast service, the successful candidate would ideally have some business background and be prepared to closely work together with commercial partners. The 25% compulsory work will involve establishing customer needs and working towards funding proposals together with commercial partners.

The successful candidate should prove good knowledge in data analysis techniques, statistical physics, and a working knowledge with data analysis software, for example Matlab, IDL. Any additional relevant skills (such as programming or radar/optical or in-situ measurement techniques) will be an advantage.
Candidates without a Master's degree have until 30 June, 2016 to complete the final exam.

For more information and to apply use follow the instructions under this link: http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1618077/64282?iso=no


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PhD Student Position in Space Plasma Physics (Graz, Austria)

From: Yasuhito Narita (yasuhito.narita at oeaw.ac.at)

Space Research Institute
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz

Applications are invited for a PhD student position in the area of space plasma physics focusing on preparation for the Solar Orbiter mission of European Space Agency. The task is to analyze the solar wind data (plasmas and magnetic fields) primarily from the Helios mission, and to build a model and a toolkit for waves and turbulence in the inner heliosphere for the magnetic field measurements on board Solar Orbiter. 

The applicant must hold a Master degree or equivalent in physics (e.g., plasma physics, turbulence physics), astrophysics, geophysics, or a related field. Experience in spacecraft data analysis for space plasma missions, planetary missions, and solar missions is a prerequisite. Knowledge on waves and turbulence in space plasmas is beneficial. The appointment begins as soon as possible for three years. Salary will be on grade IV/1 75% according to the scale of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which is 28,146 Euro per year (before tax and social insurance).

The application deadline is May 31, 2016. Applications include 1) a cover letter, 2) a curriculum vitae, 3) a list of publications if available, 4) a statement of applicant's past and current research experience (up to 2 pages), 5) certificates and transcripts for full academic record, and 6) up to two letters of recommendation. Applications may be sent by post to Space Plasma Physics Group at Space Research Institute, or electronically via email to yasuhito.narita at oeaw.ac.at in separate PDF format.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences is an equal opportunity employer.

Space Research Institute
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Yasuhito Narita
Schmiedlstraße 6
A-8042 Graz
Austria

Phone           +43 316 4120 574
Fax             +43 316 4120 590
E-Mail  yasuhito.narita at oeaw.ac.at


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