[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXIV, Issue 64

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXIV, Issue 64
Nov.26,2017

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

Table of Contents

1. JGR Special Section on Dayside Magnetosphere Interactions

2. December 8 Deadline for Mid-scale RFI 

3. MEETING: First Announcement and Call to Register Interest for 1-day Workshop Supported by the Royal Astronomical Society, Cambridge, UK, April 27, 2017, Cambridge, UK

4. MEETING: SCOSTEP's STP14 Symposium, Toronto, Canada, July 9 - 13, 2018 - 2nd Announcement

5. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral and PhD Positions Available at Satellite Research Centre at NTU Singapore

6. JOB OPENING: Post-Baccalaureate Position with Space Science and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory

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

Announcement Submission Website: http://goo.gl/forms/qjcm4dDr4g


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

JGR Special Section on Dayside Magnetosphere Interactions

From: Qiugang Zong, Philippe Escoubet, David Sibeck, Guan Le, Hui Zhang (qgzong at pku.edu.cn)

Submission deadline: January 5, 2018
Special collection title: Dayside Magnetosphere Interactions
Special section organizers: Qiugang Zong, Philippe Escoubet, David Sibeck, Guan Le, Hui Zhang

Manuscripts are invited for a special section that focuses on Dayside Magnetosphere Interactions. This special collection will address the processes by which solar wind mass, momentum, and energy enter the magnetosphere. Regions of interest include the foreshock, bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause, and cusps, the dayside magnetosphere, and both the dayside polar and equatorial ionosphere. Results from spacecraft observations (e.g., MMS, Cluster, Geotail, THEMIS, and Van Allen Probes), ground-based observations (all-sky camera, radar, and magnetometer), MHD, hybrid and PIC simulations are all welcome. Parallel processes occur at other planets are also solicited. Many of the collected papers will be based on presentations at a recent AGU Chapman conference held in Chengdu, China, in July 2017. Papers relevant to the scope but not presented at the conference are also solicited.

Manuscripts are to be submitted through the AGU's submission system (GEMS) for JGR: Space Physics (https://jgr-spacephysics-submit.agu.org). The manuscript type will be a Research Article.  When authors submit a manuscript, they must select the correct special collection designation. If authors do not see the correct special collection in the list, please contact journal staff.


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

December 8 Deadline for Mid-scale RFI 

From: Michael Witlberger (mwiltber at nsf.gov)

Friendly reminder that the deadline for submissions related to the request for information on existing and feature needs for mid-scale research infrastructure projects (between $4M-$100M) requested by NSF Dear Colleague Letter (https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18013/nsf18013.jsp) is December 8, 2017.  

We highly encourage the community to submit your concepts as suggested in the DCL.  This is not a Letter of Intent or a guarantee that a call for proposals is coming, but it would greatly help NSF in future planning for these types of projects.  Please see the DCL for more details on the submission process and reach out to me with any questions.


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

MEETING: First Announcement and Call to Register Interest for 1-day Workshop Supported by the Royal Astronomical Society, Cambridge, UK, April 27, 2017, Cambridge, UK

From: Robert Shore, Anasuya Aruliah, John Coxon, Elizabeth Tindale (robore at bas.ac.uk)

We are pleased to announce a 1-day workshop “System-Scale Data Analysis to Resolve Thermospheric Joule Heating”, to be held at the British Antarctic Survey (Cambridge, UK) on Friday the 27th April 2017.

The aim of this workshop is to give a forum for discussing of the interdisciplinary utility of data-driven analytical techniques, and the best ways to harness the potential of the available large datasets which are driving advances in near-Earth space research.  The specific focus of the workshop is on the intrinsically interdisciplinary problem of resolving Joule heating – the transfer of energy from electrical currents in the ionosphere to the neutral particles of the upper atmosphere.

This event depends upon your support: register interest here and save the date: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/system-scale-data-analysis-to-resolve-thermospheric-joule-heating-tickets-40057339581
Note that financial support is available for attending postgraduate students.  Abstract submission will open in early 2018.

To enjoy the benefits of an improved description of Joule heating and to improve predictions of its impact, we must understand its components – ionospheric electric field, conductivity and current flow – and the solar, magnetospheric and thermospheric factors which drive them.  These improvements require systems-level (global) analyses, spanning the complex and strongly coupled solar-terrestrial environment. The increasing availability of large ground-based and satellite datasets, such as AMPERE, SuperDARN and SuperMAG which span multiple years (even multiple solar cycles) with often excellent geographic coverage provides an unprecedented set of complementary observations to achieve this.

Analytical techniques from the disciplines of statistics, machine learning and information theory are driving new discoveries of spatiotemporal trends and interdependencies in solar-terrestrial system phenomena. We see a need to communicate the use of these techniques to the solar-terrestrial community.  We aim to foster discussion on new and existing techniques which provide state-of-the-art descriptions of the Joule heating, its causative electrodynamic components, and the associated thermospheric response. In particular, we seek out approaches which exploit all available data, rather than focusing on single instruments, epochs, or phenomena. Contributions which improve the understanding of coupling between systems and thus improve the nowcasting, forecasting or hindcasting of Joule heating phenomena are especially welcome.

Conveners: Robert Shore, Anasuya Aruliah, John Coxon, Elizabeth Tindale.
For more information please contact Rob Shore at robore at bas.ac.uk.


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

MEETING: SCOSTEP's STP14 Symposium, Toronto, Canada, July 9 - 13, 2018 - 2nd Announcement

From: Marianna Shepherd (mshepher at yorku.ca)

The SCOSTEP 14th Quadrennial Solar-Terrestrial Physics Symposium (STP14) will be held in Toronto, Canada during July 9 - 13, 2018. All relevant information can be found at the Symposium website: http://www.scostepevents.ca.

The registration and abstract submission are now open.
Important deadlines: 1) Abstract Submission - 15 Feb 2018; 2) All Registration & Payment - 15 May 2018; 3) Accommodation - 15 May 2018
The scientific sessions of STP14 will feature the three major chains of physical processes operating in the solar-terrestrial domain: (i) the mass chain in the form of plasma and particles emitted from the Sun, (ii) the electromagnetic radiation chain in the form of irradiance and flare emissions, and (iii) the intra-atmospheric chain representing energy flow from the Earth into space. In addition, there will be a set of special sessions that are of current interest in solar terrestrial physics.  The Scientific Program will include the following sessions:

1. Mass Chain
a. Origin, evolution, and Earth impact of coronal mass ejections - Conveners:  J. Zhang, S. Kanekal, V. Kuznetsov
b. Origin, evolution, and Earth impact of high speed streams - Conveners: M. Temmer, V. N. Obridko
c. Origin, evolution, and Earth impact of energetic particles from solar, magnetospheric and galactic sources - Conveners: B. Heber, S. Kanekal

2. Electromagnetic Chain
a. Long-term solar variability (magnetism, total irradiance, and spectral irradiance) and its impact on geospace and Earth - Conveners: K. Georgieva, P. Charbonneau
b. Origin of solar flares and their impact on Earth's ionosphere/atmosphere - Conveners: K. Cho, K. Shiokawa, D. Marsh, F.-J. Lübken, V. N. Obridko

3. Intra-Atmospheric Chain
a. Geospace response to variability of the lower atmosphere - Conveners: K. Shiokawa, W. Ward
b. Trends in the entire atmosphere, including anthropogenic aspects - Conveners: D. Marsh, K. Georgieva
c. Regional, hemispheric and inter-hemispheric couplings and transport in the atmosphere - Conveners: Kazuo Shiokawa and William Ward
d. Magnetosphere - Ionosphere - Thermosphere coupling in SC 24 - Conveners: A. Yau, I. Mann

4. Special Topics
a. Long-term Sun-Earth-Climate chain - Conveners: P. Martens, D. Nandi
b. Space Weather - Conveners: N. Nitta, K. Shiokawa
c. Will Cycle 25 be special? - Convener: V. N. Obridko
d. New Missions (space, ground) for STP - Conveners: N. Gopalswamy, F.-J. Lübken

Scientific Organizing Committee: Nat Gopalswamy, USA (Chair); Franz–Josef Lübken, Germany (Vice-Chair); Kyung-Suk Cho, South Korea; Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russia; Daniel Marsh, USA; Takuji Nakamura, Japan; Craig Rodger, New Zealand; Annika Seppälä, New Zealand; Katya Georgieva, Bulgaria; Kazuo Shiokawa, Japan; Jacob Bortnik, USA; Paul Charbonneau, Canada; Donald Danskin, Canada; Ian Mann, Canada; Petrus Martens, USA; Dibyendu Nandi, India; Vladimir Obridko, Russia; Jean-Pierre St. Maurice, Canada; Manuela Temmer, Austria; William Ward, Canada; Yihua Yan, China; Andrew Yau, Canada and Jie Zhang, USA.

Local Organizing Committee: Marianna Shepherd (Chair), Spiros Pagiatakis, James Whiteway, William Ward.


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

JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral and PhD Positions Available at Satellite Research Centre at NTU Singapore

From: Tzu-Wei Fang (tzu-wei.fang at noaa.gov)

Applications are invited from talented physicists and engineers to join the Earth remote sensing and atmospheric modelling group at the Satellite Research Centre (SaRC) in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. SaRC currently has two postdoc positions open for qualified candidates to work on Global Climate Models to study atmosphere dynamics or to develop new small satellite (Cubesat and microsatellite) mission concepts for atmospheric imaging missions.  SaRC operates the VELOX CI satellite for GPS Radio Occultation studies and is actively working towards developing a regional space weather application for South-East Asia. Applicants who have a PhD in Physical sciences or Engineering, experience working with atmospheric models and satellite datasets are encouraged to apply. Applications are also invited from candidates with experience in working with space hardware, space instrumentation, optical and imaging systems.

Desired Requirements:
·         PhD or M. Eng/MS in Engineering or Physical Sciences.
·         Interest in Atmospheric and Ionospheric modelling.
·         Experience working with Satellite datasets.
·         Experience in Matlab/Python/IDL  programing skills
·         Strong analytical ability, communication skills, creativity and self-motivation.
·         Good interpersonal skills with the ability to work independently and also in a team environment.

For Instrumentation Position:
·         Experience in Optical Instrumentation.
·         Clean room experience.
·         Experience working with Satellite hardware.

PhD positions are available to work on:
1)      Thermosphere gravity wave studies using simulations from the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with Thermosphere Ionosphere Extension (WACCM-X) and observations from upcoming NASA GOLD and ICON missions.
2)      An equatorial CubeSat constellation for continuous Ionospheric monitoring of the South East Asia region. The student will work to develop algorithms for radio occultation measurement retrievals, TEC calculation and identifying common volume measurements with ground based GPS receivers. The PhD student is expected to gain an insight into the various subsystems of a spacecraft and work closely with the engineering team at SaRC.

PhD applications for August 2018 semester is due before January 31st. Interested applicants are encouraged to get in touch with Dr. Amal Chandran at the earliest.
Application Procedure:
Interested Candidates please send your CV/resume together with a cover letter to:
Asst. Prof. Amal Chandran
Associate Director, Satellite Research Centre.
School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Nanyang Technological University,
50 Nanyang Avenue, Block S2.1, Singapore 639798
E-mail Address for sending applications: achandran at ntu.edu.sg


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

JOB OPENING: Post-Baccalaureate Position with Space Science and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory

From: Philip Fernandes (pfernandes at lanl.gov)

The Space Science and Applications Group (ISR-1) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) seeks a Post-Baccalaureate candidate for work in our Space Plasma Instrumentation Calibration Facility. This position is targeted toward recent graduates (Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Engineering, or related field) and is excellent preparation for candidates who desire practical training in laboratory R&D work and may be interested in continuing on to graduate school. 

The successful candidate will work closely with Los Alamos scientists and engineers in areas such as testing space instrument performance, basic experiments involving ion and electron interactions with detectors and detector materials, and evaluating new detection methods and technologies. Example duties include working with vacuum systems, adding new diagnostics and other upgrades to the facility, operating the ion beam, and conducting experiments in the facility.  Previous laboratory experience (undergraduate research or coursework) or formal/informal mechanical skills are preferred. 

The position is available for a minimum of 1 year with the possibility of extending to 2 years. Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0/4.0.  More information on the LANL Post-Baccalaureate program can be found at http://www.lanl.gov/careers/career-options/student-internships/undergraduate/index.php . 

Applicants should submit a CV with cumulative GPA and a 1 page cover letter specifying their interest in this position and any relevant skills by January 1, 2018.

This position is immediately available and will remain open until filled with intent to hire by February 1, 2018.  Adjustments to the start date are possible for the appropriate candidate.

For more details about the position, and to submit application materials, please contact:
Dr. Philip Fernandes, pfernandes at lanl.gov
Dr. Misa Cowee, mcowee at lanl.gov


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

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

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

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

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: Due to the large number of SPA-related sessions at major conferences, the SPA Newsletter can no longer accept announcement requests for individual sessions at AGU, AOGS, COSPAR, EGU, or IAGA Meetings. Titles and web links (if available) of these sessions will be distributed in a special issue of the Newsletter before the abstract deadline.

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

SPA Newsletter Editorial Team: Peter Chi (Editor), Guan Le (Co-Editor), Sharon Uy, Marjorie Sowmendran, Todd King, and Kevin Addison

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