[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIV, Issue 2

Mon Jan 16 16:56:03 PST 2017

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXIV, Issue 2
Jan.16,2017

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

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Table of Contents

1. JGR-Space Physics Editor Blog Monthly Highlights

2. MEETING: International Symposium PSTEP-2: Toward the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Prediction as Science and Social Infrastructure, Kyoto, Japan, March 23-24, 2017 (First Announcement)

3. MEETING: 2017 International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program Workshop, Qingdao, China, May 15-17, 2017

4. MEETING: SPD Meeting, Portland, OR, August 21-26, 2017

5. MEETING: 7th Solar Orbiter Workshop – Exploring the Solar Environs. Reminder: Early-bird registration deadline approaching quickly

6. SESSION: Special Session on Lightning Effects at 32nd General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of URSI

7. Monday Science Telecon, January 23, 2017

8. 2017 ISR Summer School

9. Topical Issue of JSWSC: Measurement, Specification and Forecasting of the Solar Energetic Particle Environment

10. JOB OPENING : Post-doctoral Position at New Jersey Institute of Technology - CSTR

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JGR-Space Physics Editor Blog Monthly Highlights

From: Mike Liemohn (liemohn at umich.edu)

The big news in from the last month is that one of our JGR Space Physics Associate Editors is leaving to join a different journal's editorial board: as we read last week in the SPA newsletter, Prof. Merav Opher of Boston University has just started as an Editor for Geophysical Research Letters.  In other news, I have been asked, and I agreed, to extend my term by two years. So, three, not one, more years of me as EiC of JGR Space Physics.

Here are a few highlights from December in the JGR Space Physics EiC blog:

December 2: AGU's newest journal, GeoHealth, is now open to submissions
     https://liemohnjgrspace.wordpress.com/2016/12/2/agus-new-journal-geohealth/

December 27:  announcing the extension of my EiC term
     https://liemohnjgrspace.wordpress.com/2016/12/27/not-one-but-three/

December 28: please consider contributing to the new AGU fund supporting the creation of the Maha Ashour-Abdalla Scholarhip in Space Physics:
     https://liemohnjgrspace.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/the-ashour-abdalla-scholarship/

Main Website:   http://liemohnjgrspace.wordpress.com/

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MEETING: International Symposium PSTEP-2: Toward the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Prediction as Science and Social Infrastructure, Kyoto, Japan, March 23-24, 2017 (First Announcement)

From: Kanya Kusano (kusano at nagoya-u.jp)

It is our great pleasure to announce that the 2nd PSTEP International Symposium (PSTEP-2) will be held at Kyoto University from 23 to 24 March, 2017.

PSTEP-2 is the international symposium organized by the Project for Solar-Terrestrial Environment Prediction (PSTEP), which is a multi-institute project supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from MEXT/Japan. This symposium will provide valuable opportunities to discuss the current status and future prospect of solar-terrestrial environment prediction as well as to foster the international joint research of the space weather and space climate studies. This symposium addresses mainly the prediction of solar storm and solar cycle and its influences on global environment. Also the economic impacts of space weather disaster and geo-space disturbances are included in the scope of the symposium. The program consists of keynote and invited presentations, contributed presentations, and open discussions. We are looking forward to your participation in PSTEP-2 and welcoming you to the beautiful city Kyoto in March.

Venue: Science Seminar House, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University
              http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/access/yoshida/north.html    #10

Organizer/Host: Project for Solar-Terrestrial Environment Prediction (PSTEP)

Co-host:
- Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University
- Kwasan and Hida Observatories, Kyoto University
- Integrated Earth and Planetary Science Hub, Kyoto University

Keynote lectures (tentative tile):
- Quantifying the economic impact of extreme space weather, Edward Ougton, Centre for Risk Studies, University of Cambridge
- Understanding the mechanism of solar eruptions, Bernhard Kliem, Institute of Physics & Astronomy, University of Potsdam
- Exploration of energization and radiation in geospace "ARASE" (ERG) mission, Yoshizumi Miyosi, ISEE, Nagoya University
- Influence of the 11-year solar cycle on climate, Lesley Gray, Department of Physics, University of Oxford

Registration and Abstract Submission:
 The online registration and abstract submission for PSTEP-2 are available from January 16, 2017 to February 17, 2017 at https://is.isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp/PSTEP-2/

Science organizing committee:
 Kanya Kusano, Kiyoshi Ichimoto, Shigeo Yoden, Mamoru Ishii, Yoshizumi Miyoshi

Contact:
- symposium at pstep.jp
- phone: +81-52-747-6333 (PSTEP Secretariat, ISEE, Nagoya University)

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MEETING: 2017 International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program Workshop, Qingdao, China, May 15-17, 2017

From: Shunrong Zhang (shunrong at haystack.mit.edu)

2017 International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program Workshop
May 15-17, 2017,  Qingdao, China
http://imcp2017.csp.escience.cn

(First Announcement)

Chinese Meridian Project (CMP) is a ground-based chain of observational facilities mainly along 120E longitude to monitor the geospace environment over China.  CMP has collected data since 2012.  The second phase of CMP has now been selected as one of the national key mega scientific infrastructure projects for 2016-2020 in China.

The International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program (IMCP) aims to take full advantage of diverse instrumentation to study the space weather and associated system science along an approximate meridian circle along120E/60W longitude passing through a variety of countries and regions, including China, Russia, Canada, the U. S., South America, Antarctica and Australia and others.. This program provides an effective means to study the coupling and feedback between solar disturbances, geospace and Earth’s atmosphere in a global context.  This effort will be enhanced through the planned modeling, data taking and analysis, education, and public outreach activities. In order to discuss the science context and the implementation plan of IMCP, the 2017 International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program Workshop will be held in Qingdao, Shandong, China from May 14 – 17, 2017.  The Workshop covers, but is not limited to, the following topics,

- Geospace (interplanetary, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and middle and lower atmosphere) disturbances during space weather events in general, and in particular, the areas to which IMCP can make unique contributions;

- Ground-based instrumentation and new development for space weather monitoring over regions of, but not limited to, the 120°E/60°W meridian circle. Of particular interests are instruments such as ionosondes, various radars (e.g. ISRs, HF, SuperDARN, VHF and MF radars, meter radars), GPS receivers, All-sky imagers, FPIs, LIDARs, magnetometers, etc.

- Coordinated plans for observations, data sharing, scientific analysis, and modeling efforts to make use of the IMCP facilities.

- Other subject areas complementary to the IMCP effort.

Local Organizing Committee
 Co-Chairs:
  Chi Wang (National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
  Jian Wu (China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation)
Prpgram Committee
 Co-Chairs:
  Weixing Wan (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
  John Foster (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  Shunrong Zhang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

For further information, please check our website,
 http://imcp2017.csp.escience.cn
contact the local organizing committee or the program committee, or
  Mr. Yongjian XU (xuyongjian at nssc.ac.cn)
     National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  Ms. Xin AN, (cetc22zhb at 163.com)
     China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation

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MEETING: SPD Meeting, Portland, OR, August 21-26, 2017

From: Holly Gilbert (holly.r.gilbert at nasa.gov)

The next SPD meeting will be held in conjunction with the 2017 total solar eclipse. The SPD meeting will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton located at 1000 NE Multnomah Street, Portland, OR. 

The hotel reservation system and meeting registration will be available in the near future (look for further announcements). A block of rooms is reserved for SPD members with the following group rates:

Standard Queen $194/night (single or double occupancy)
Premium with two queens or one king $214 (single or double occupancy)

A smaller block of rooms will be available at the government per diem rate. 

Bus transportation will be available for a fee from Portland to Salem to view the eclipse at Willamette University. The cost will be on the order of $45-$50. Food options will also be offered for the bus trip and the viewing location has a cafeteria and facilities. 

Stay tuned for info on hotel registration and an updated SPD website.

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MEETING: 7th Solar Orbiter Workshop – Exploring the Solar Environs. Reminder: Early-bird registration deadline approaching quickly

From: Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta (ada at astro.uio.no)

Dear Colleagues,

Friendly reminder from the 7th Solar Orbiter Workshop - Exploring the Solar Environs organizers:

Please note that the early-bird registration deadline (January 31, 2017) is approaching fast. After that date the registration fee will increase by 100 euros.

Looking forward to receiving you in Granada,

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

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SESSION: Special Session on Lightning Effects at 32nd General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of URSI

From: Sebastien Celestin, Ningyu Liu, Martin Fullekrug (Ningyu.Liu at unh.edu)

From: Sebastien Celestin (sebastien.celestin at cnrs-orleans.fr), Ningyu Liu (Ningyu.Liu at unh.edu), Martin Fullekrug (M.Fullekrug at bath.ac.uk)

32nd General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of International Union of Radio Science (URSI) - August 19-26th, 2017, Montreal, Canada

Joint Session Organized by Commissions H, G and E: Atmospheric, Ionospheric, Magnetospheric and High Energy Effects of Lightning Discharges

The recent discovery that lightning discharges can cause energetic radiation, relativistic particles, and transient luminous events has marked a profound advance in our understanding of the Earth's atmospheric and ionospheric  electrodynamics. This session explores these novel processes and their impact on the near-Earth environment. The session solicits contributions that advance knowledge in the areas of the global atmospheric electric circuit, lightning physics, transient luminous events, energetic radiation, relativistic particles, and their impact on the Earth's atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere. One key focus of the session will be novel observations onboard space platforms, such as the lightning imagers on geostationary satellites, the TARANIS satellite, the ASIM payload on the International Space Station, and related ground based observations and their modelling. Interdisciplinary studies, which emphasize the connection between atmospheric layers and the relation between atmospheric electricity and climate change are particularly welcome.

We also invite students to participate to the URSI 2017 GASS Student Paper Competition: http://www.ursi2017.org/side_program/scientific_program/student_paper_e.shtml

The DEADLINE for receipt of abstracts, for application for Young Scientists Award, and for Student Paper Competition is JANUARY 30, 2017.

The abstracts submission website is the following: http://www.aps-ursi.org/ursigass

Please note that Commission H ACCEPTS NORMAL ABSTRACTS. Authors who wish to submit a longer "Summary Paper" with figures and references to the proceeding still have that option but THIS IS NOT COMPULSORY unless the authors apply for a Young Scientists Award. The abstracts have to be submitted as pdf files.

The web page http://www.ursi2017.org/ contains general information and abstract submission instructions and guidelines.

Conveners:  

Sebastien Celestin, LPC2E, 
University of Orleans, CNRS
3A avenue de la Recherche Scientifique
45071 Orleans Cedex 2, France
Tel: +33 238257983; e-mail: sebastien.celestin at cnrs-orleans.fr

Ningyu Liu, Department of Physics,
University of New Hampshire,
Morse Hall 312
8 College Road
Durham, NH 03824-3525, USA
Tel: +1-603-862-2313; e-mail: Ningyu.Liu at unh.edu

Martin Fullekrug, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Centre for Space, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1225 386330; e-mail: M.Fullekrug at bath.ac.uk

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Monday Science Telecon, January 23, 2017

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

At 12:00 noon EST on Monday (January 23), we plan to hold the next in our ongoing series of science telecons. The speaker this Monday will be Meng Zhou from UCLA. The topic will be "Observation of high-frequency electrostatic waves in the vicinity of the reconnection ion diffusion region by the spacecraft of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission."

The telecom will be broadcast live via webex. If you would like to join, please
go to http://uclaigpp.webex.com/, search for the ‘Dayside Science' meeting, enter your name and contact information, and then the meeting password, which is Substorm1!

To hear the audio, do not dial the number that pops up on the webex website. Instead, please dial the following toll free (in the United States) number:
1-844-467-6272
with passcode 901533

Please remember to mute your telephone if you are not speaking.

Looking forward to speaking with you.

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2017 ISR Summer School

From: Elizabeth Kendall (summerschool at esd.sri.com)

2017 ISR Summer School

Arecibo Observatory
Puerto Rico
23-29 July 2017

The 2017 ISR Summer School will be held in Puerto Rico at the Arecibo Observatory 23-29 July, inclusive. The school provides students with hands-on experience in designing and running experiments at incoherent scatter radar facilities. During this summer school, students will have the opportunity to run experiments with the Arecibo incoherent scatter radar (ISR) and use data from multiple ISR observatories, such as Poker Flat (PFISR), Millstone Hill, Sondrestrom, Arecibo and Jicamarca. The school will be structured to provide presentations in the morning and hands-on experience in experiment design and analysis in the afternoons. The morning lectures will include an introduction to the theory of incoherent scatter, radar operations, ISR analysis techniques, and the Madrigal database. The afternoon exercises will involve working closely with ISR facility staff in the topic areas of proposal design, experiment execution, and data analysis. All students will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with experienced scientists from multiple institutions.

The ISR summer school is suitable for graduate and advanced undergraduate students and attendance is limited. For most students attending institutions within the United States, travel, housing and meals will be provided. For post-docs and students outside of the United States, funding will be considered on a case-by-case basis. All students who wish to apply for the ISR summer school must follow the application instructions at the summer school web site:

http://www.amisr.com/workshop 

The 2017 ISR summer school is sponsored by the National Science Foundation through its Geospace Facilities Program within the Geosciences Directorate and is organized by SRI International. For more information about the school, please contact summerschool at esd.sri.com. 

The deadline for application submission is 01 March 2017.

Notice of acceptance will be sent to participants by 29 March 2017.

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Topical Issue of JSWSC: Measurement, Specification and Forecasting of the Solar Energetic Particle Environment

From: Alexander Mishev (alexander.mishev at oulu.fi)

The Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) environment has a critical physical impact on industry sectors such as civil aviation, human space flight, satellite design and operations. Historically, measured SEP data was obtained from riometers and balloon flights, later came the era of neutron monitors and with the space age came direct in-situ observations. Different data sources come with their own strengths and weaknesses, clarity and caveats. Spacecraft designers and operators, manned aircraft and spacecraft flight operators, space weather forecasters and scientists can benefit greatly from long-term, carefully processed data sets and the models derived from them taking advantage of different data sources. Occasionally the energy of SEPs is large enough to induce an atmospheric cascade leading to an enhancement of count rate of ground-based detectors, specifically neutron monitors (NMs).
This special class of SEP events, ground-level enhancements lead to a significant change of atmospheric radiation environment, accordingly space weather conditions. One category of SEP models covers the long-term environment specification, addressing the a need for the environment to be defined for all space missions with increasing importance for missions at higher altitudes and latitudes which benefit less from geomagnetic shielding of particles. A second category of models tracing the transport of SEPs from the solar surface and propagating CMEs are necessary for forecasting SEPs as part of an operational space weather system and derivation of SEP fluxes at heliospheric locations where they are not observed directly. The derived with various instruments and methods including multi-instrumental and multi-wavelenght techniques serve to adjust the existing models and to enhance the understanding of SEPs and extreme SEPs environment.

This topical issue invites contributions on the following broad topics:
x Measurement and processing of SEP and GLEs or extreme SEPs data
x Models relevant to the specification of the SEP environment
x Models and tools for forecasting the SEP environment and predicting fluxes throughout the heliosphere
x Tools for calculating the magnetic and physical shielding of SEPs
x Instrumentation for extreme SEPs registration
x Modeling and nowcasting of aircrew dose exposure during SEPs and GLEs.

An assessment of the impact of SEP fluxes based on model outputs in terms of deposited doses in electronic components and humans and the implications of such dose levels are strongly encouraged.
Progress reports of modeling of particle propagation in the Earth atmosphere and magnetosphere towards space weather applications are welcome.

Deadline: 30th April 2017

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JOB OPENING : Post-doctoral Position at New Jersey Institute of Technology - CSTR

From: Rualdo Soto-Chavez, Louis Lanzerotti, Andrew Gerrard (arsoto at njit.edu)

The Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) of the New Jersey Institute of Technology invites applications for a postdoctoral position in numerical simulations of waves in space plasmas. We are looking for a candidate with strong background on Particle-in-Cell simulations of space physics and/or plasma physics. Experience in whistlers and/or chorus waves phenomena is highly desirable. The successful applicant will be expected to perform the duties of a post-doctoral fellow, including the publication of original research, submission of proposals, and the support of CSTR projects.
Applicants should have obtained by the starting date a PhD in plasma physics, space physics, geophysics, or related field. The start date of the appointment is flexible, however, earlier dates are preferred. The appointment is for one year, with a possible renewal for two more years based on successful applicant performance. Benefits are competitive and salary will be commensurate with applicant experience.

The successful applicant will work with Dr. Rualdo Soto-Chavez, as well as Dr. Louis Lanzerotti and Prof. Andrew Gerrard. Applicants are required to complete an on-line application through our website at: https://njit.jobs/ and search for posting # 0603715. You can click on the "Search Postings" link at the left, and enter the number 0603715 to find the link to the job and instructions.  Candidates will need to submit a curriculum vitae, list of publications, a brief statement of research interests, and the names of three professional references. Questions may be directed to Dr. Rualdo Soto-Chavez  arsoto at njit.edu.

The Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, in Newark, NJ, is a worldwide leading institution in solar and space physics. CSTR is a PI organization in the NASA Van Allen Probes mission, manages the Polar Engineering Development Center, and operates the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and the Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA) in California. For more information visit http://centers.njit.edu/cstr/
To build a diverse workforce, NJIT encourages applications from individuals with disabilities, minorities, veterans and women. EEO employer.

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