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

Sun Mar 3 21:13:15 PST 2019

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXVI, Issue 14
Mar.04,2019

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Table of Contents

1. AGU Honors Deadline Coming Up!

2. NASA SBIR/STTR 2019 Program Solicitation is Open w/Space Weather R2O/O2R Technology Development

3. Request for Community Input on Benchmarks for Space Weather

4. 3rd Announcement of Opportunity for CLUSTER Guest Investigators and Early Career Scientists

5. MEETING: ASEC 2019 Abstract and Student Travel Request Deadline Extended to March 12

6. MEETING: The Planetary CubeSats Symposium, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, June 27-28, 2019

7. MEETING: 2019 Ion Composition in the Sun-Earth System (ICSES), Durango, Colorado, USA, July 28 - August 3, 2019

8. MEETING: COSPAR Capacity-Building Workshop – IRI 2019 – Nicosia, Cyprus, September 2-13, 2019

9. MEETING: 29th Cluster Workshop, Lanzarote, Spain, October 7-11, 2019 -- First Announcement

10. MEETING: 2020 Sun-Climate Symposium, January 27-31, 2020 -- Save the Date!

11. SESSION: Abstract Submission Open for NAM2019 Session "Magnetohydrodynamic Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Atmosphere in the High-Resolution Era"

12. MMS Data in Python with pySPEDAS

13. Debye Mission: Please Register your Support

14. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position in Space Physics – Work with Data from the Rosetta Ion Composition Analyzer 

15. JOB OPENING: Postdoc on Machine Learning in Amsterdam (NL)

16. JOB OPENING: Postdoc Position in Planetary Science

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

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AGU Honors Deadline Coming Up!

From: Patricia Reiff (reiff at rice.edu)

Don’t forget to nominate deserving folks for AGU prizes and awards!

For Education and Public outreach don’t forget the "SPARC" award (Space Physics & Astronomy Richard Carrington Award)
https://honors.agu.org/sfg-award-lecture/space-physics-and-aeronomy-richard-carrington-education-and-public-outreach-sparc-award/
Nominee must be an AGU member but nominator and supporter(s) need not be AGU members.  Due April 15.

The 2018 recipient was Patricia Doherty:  https://honors.agu.org/sfg-award-lecture/space-physics-and-aeronomy-richard-carrington-education-and-public-outreach-sparc-award/  

And for bringing the beauty and majesty of science to the public, please nominate for the "Athelstan Spilhaus" Award.
https://honors.agu.org/medals-awards/athelstan-spilhaus-award/
Recipient need not be an AGU member.  Nominator must be an active AGU member, but supporters need not be.  Deadline MARCH 15.

The 2018 winner of the Athelstan Spilhaus Award was Alex Young.
Other recipients can be found here:  https://honors.agu.org/medals-awards/athelstan-spilhaus-award/

Note for both the conflict of interest policy for nominator and seconders.

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NASA SBIR/STTR 2019 Program Solicitation is Open w/Space Weather R2O/O2R Technology Development

From: James Spann, PhD (jim.spann at nasa.gov)

The NASA SBIR/STTR programs provide opportunities to small business concerns to engage in the research, development, and demonstration of technologies that both fulfill NASA needs and have the potential for successful commercialization. The 2019 Program Solicitation is now open and includes subtopic S5.06, Space Weather R2O/O2R Technology Development. Phase I proposals are due by March 29, 2019 at 5:00 pm EST.

The subtopic S5.06 is intended to help the NASA Heliophysics Program meet its research obligations to prepare our nation for space weather events.  Four areas have been identified for priority development:

•Preparation and validation of existing science models that may be suitable for transition to operational use
•Innovations to produce and/or further refine space weather operational benchmarks
•Data assimilation innovations that enable tools and protocols for the operational space weather community
•Instrumentation concepts, flight architectures, and reporting systems suitable for data assimilation into space weather monitoring and forecasting systems

For complete information, please see the S5.06 Space Weather R2O/O2R Technology Development Subtopic at https://sbir.nasa.gov/solicitations.  The NASA SBIR/STTR Help Desk can answer questions (sbir at reisystems.com / 301-937-0888, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Mon.-Fri., Eastern Time).

James Spann, PhD
Space Weather Lead

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Request for Community Input on Benchmarks for Space Weather

From: Michael Wiltberger (mwiltber at nsf.gov)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is sponsoring an effort that seeks to engage the space weather community to develop the next phase of space weather benchmarks. As a point of reference, the U.S. National Science & Technology Council released Phase 1 benchmarks in June 2018. This new NSF-sponsored effort seeks to improve on the Phase 1 Benchmarks and identify opportunities for research efforts that will improve the understanding of extreme space weather, resulting in better benchmarks and preparedness. This effort, supported by NASA and the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute, is being chaired by Geoff Reeves (LANL).

To support this effort, we are requesting input from the space weather community. Your input will help improve the fidelity and utility of space weather benchmarks and support development of a more refined Phase 2 Benchmarks study. This input may also be used to inform Federal research and development R&D priorities. For more information, please see the following link: https://idalink.org/SWxBenchmarks

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

3rd Announcement of Opportunity for CLUSTER Guest Investigators and Early Career Scientists

From: C. Philippe Escoubet (philippe.escoubet at esa.int)

We are pleased to announce the 3rd Announcement of Opportunity for CLUSTER Guest Investigators and Early Career Scientists.

Proposals for this programme should identify compelling scientific studies that make use of the Cluster spacecraft and payload in 2020. Proposals to exploit Cluster data with other satellite data, or proposals for theoretical and/or modelling studies focused on the goals and objectives of the Cluster mission, are encouraged.

The documentation for this announcement is available at : https://cosmos.esa.int/web/cluster-ao3 

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MEETING: ASEC 2019 Abstract and Student Travel Request Deadline Extended to March 12

From: Joseph Minow (joseph.minow at nasa.gov)

The Applied Space Environments Conference (ASEC) 2019 organizing committee has extended the deadline for abstract submission and requests for student travel support to 12 March.  The conference will be held at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City Hotel in Universal City (Los Angeles), California from 13 – 17 May 2019.

ASEC 2019:  https://sti.usra.edu/ASEC2019/

Conveners:  Insoo Jun/JPL, Linda Neergaard Parker/USRA, and Joseph Minow/NASA

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MEETING: The Planetary CubeSats Symposium, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, June 27-28, 2019

From: Scott Guzewich (scott.d.guzewich at nasa.gov)

The Planetary CubeSats/Smallsats Symposiums are held annually at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with the participation of CubeSat scientists and developers. Discussions include current missions, mission concepts, and opportunities for future mission selections. The sessions also include panel discussions about strategic and technical aspects of planetary CubeSats, and an afternoon poster session provides mission proposers the opportunity to meet with vendors and suppliers.  Registration is now open at https://cubesats.gsfc.nasa.gov/symposium.php

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MEETING: 2019 Ion Composition in the Sun-Earth System (ICSES), Durango, Colorado, USA, July 28 - August 3, 2019

From: Michael Denton (mdenton at spacescience.org)

A meeting on “Ion Composition in the Sun-Earth System (ICSES): Measurements/Implications/Theory” will be held in Durango, Colorado USA (28th July to 3rd August 2019). The meeting will be a mix of formal talks, short presentations and audience discussions.

The conference will be held at Fort Lewis College in Durango.

The meeting will address science questions including :

# What does ion composition tell us about the origin and evolution of the solar wind?  

# How does the ion composition affect waves in the magnetosphere?   

# How do storm-changes in the thermosphere affect composition in the ionosphere/magnetosphere?

The workshop will be limited to a maximum of 60 people with more details  available at the meeting website:

    http://gemelli.spacescience.org/mdenton/durango/

Mick Denton
Mike Henderson
Joe Borovsky
(on behalf of the Science Organising Committee).

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MEETING: COSPAR Capacity-Building Workshop – IRI 2019 – Nicosia, Cyprus, September 2-13, 2019

From: Dieter Bilitza and Haris Haralambous (dbilitza at gmu.edu)

The 2019 International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) Workshop will take place at Frederick University in Nicosia, Cyprus from September 2 to 13, 2019.  The 2-week workshop is supported under the COSPAR Capacity-Building Workshop program and consists of student-oriented lectures and tutorials during the first week followed by the regular IRI science meeting in the second week. The first week activities will introduce graduate students and young researchers to the basics of ionospheric monitoring and modeling and related online resources. The students will work on specific modeling problems in small groups and report their results at the end of the second conference week to the full IRI workshop audience. The second week (9-13 Sep) will be organized as a regular IRI workshop with oral and poster presentations on the topic of ‘Improving real-time ionospheric modeling in the European and African sector’. Presentations on general IRI-related topics are also welcome including new data sources and improvements and new additions for the IRI model. Of special interest are applications of the IRI model in all areas of technology and science.

DEADLINE for submission of ABSTRACTS is May 15, 2019

Students and Young Researchers are encouraged to apply for financial support. Living expenses and partial travel support will be provided for up to 30 competitively selected students and young researchers.  

DEADLINE for FINANCIAL SUPPORT APPLICATIONS is April 15, 

The workshop website is at http://iri2019.frederick.ac.cy/ .
The IRI homepage is at http://irimodel.org .

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MEETING: 29th Cluster Workshop, Lanzarote, Spain, October 7-11, 2019 -- First Announcement

From: C. Philippe Escoubet (Philippe.Escoubet at esa.int)

The 29th Cluster workshop will take place on 7-11 October 2019 in Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain). 

This workshop follows a tradition of Cluster workshops. Cluster, together with currently operating missions, Arase, Geotail, MMS, THEMIS and Van Allen Probes, constitute the Heliophysics/Geospace System Observatory, combining constellations of 2, 3 and 4 spacecraft together. Synergetic studies as well as  theory and simulations and ground-based studies are encouraged. 

The workshop will take place in the H10 Rubicón Palace Hotel: https://www.h10hotels.com/en/lanzarote-hotels/h10-rubicon-palace

The workshop web pages are at: https://caa.esac.esa.int/wksp/cluster_workshop29_main.xml

Abstract deadline submission is 15 June and early bird registration is 31 July.

10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10

MEETING: 2020 Sun-Climate Symposium, January 27-31, 2020 -- Save the Date!

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

2020 Sun-Climate Symposium
“What is the Quiet Sun and What are the Subsequent Climate Implications?”

Jan. 27-31, 2020   *   Tucson, Arizona      
http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/sorce/news-events/meetings/2020-scs/

We are pleased to announce the 2020 Sun-Climate Symposium, which is sponsored by the Sun-Climate Research Center, a joint venture between NASA GSFC and LASP at the University of Colorado.    

     What is the quiet Sun? Is it a time-invariant base level or is there secular variability in the Sun’s radiative output? What do those alternate scenarios imply for Earth-climate responses? The current solar minimum provides an opportunity to answer these and related questions.
     Observations of the Sun and Earth from space have revolutionized our view and understanding of how solar variability and other natural and anthropogenic forcings impact Earth’s atmosphere and climate. For more than four decades the total and spectral solar irradiance and global terrestrial atmosphere and surface have been observed continuously, providing unprecedented high-quality data for Sun-climate studies. The 2020 Sun-Climate Symposium will convene experts from across the solar-terrestrial community, including the disciplines of climate research, atmospheric physics and chemistry, heliophysics, and metrology, to discuss solar and climate observations and models over both spacecraft-era and historical timescales.

Sessions will be organized around the following six themes:

1.  The Sunset of SORCE
2.  Recent/Space-Era Solar Cycle Timescales
3.  Secular Timescales
4.  Observational Predictions
5.  A New Reference Spectrum for Remote Sensing
6.  Children of SORCE

The format for this symposium consists of invited and contributed oral and poster presentations.  The Call for Abstracts will come out later this spring.  We encourage your participation and hope that you will share this announcement with colleagues.

Please save the date and join us!

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SESSION: Abstract Submission Open for NAM2019 Session "Magnetohydrodynamic Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Atmosphere in the High-Resolution Era"

From: Chris Nelson (c.j.nelson at sheffield.ac.uk)

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that abstract submission is open for the session 'Magnetohydrodynamic Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Atmosphere in the High-Resolution Era' at NAM2019.

Vast amounts of data from high-resolution instrumentation such as the space-borne SDO/AIA or the ground-based SST have allowed the study of MHD waves in the solar atmosphere to flourish. Such waves can be both localised (e.g., oscillating coronal loops) and global (e.g. Moreton waves) and can transport significant amounts of energy across the solar atmosphere meaning they may be of crucial importance for atmospheric heating. In this session, recent advances in the field of MHD waves (both observationally and theoretically) will be discussed and future avenues of study will be put forward in light of upcoming facilities such as DKIST.

Abstracts can be submitted here: https://nam2019.org/science/abstract-submission

Chris Nelson, Jiajia Liu, Mihalis Mathioudakis, Robertus Erdélyi

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MMS Data in Python with pySPEDAS

From: Eric Grimes, Jim Lewis, Vassilis Angelopoulos and the SPEDAS team  (egrimes at igpp.ucla.edu)

MMS Data in Python with pySPEDAS
Time: Wednesday, March 6, 2018 10:00 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 PM Eastern Time 

The SPEDAS development team invites you to a webinar we'll be holding on Wednesday, March 6, 2018 at 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern. The focus of this webinar will be on loading and plotting MMS Data in Python with pySPEDAS (and pyTplot). In addition to loading and plotting the data, we'll include examples of how to access the data values, manipulate the plots and save the data values to files. We'll also show how to use various analysis tools in pySPEDAS on MMS data products.

Tentative agenda:
- Introduction
- Loading MMS Data in Python
- Plotting MMS Data in Python
- Analysis Tools
- Future Plans

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 890 207 861

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Debye Mission: Please Register your Support

From: Daniel Verscharen (d.verscharen at ucl.ac.uk)

Dear AGU SPA Community,

We are currently preparing a proposal for the space mission “Debye” in response to ESA’s F-Class call. As the first dedicated electron-astrophysics mission, Debye will use the solar wind as a testbed to study universal small-scale electron processes throughout the universe. The mission's key science question is: "How are electrons heated in astrophysical plasmas?” 

Debye will consist of up to four spacecraft that will orbit the Lagrange point L2. The main spacecraft will measure electron distribution functions with unprecedented cadence and very high resolution, electric fields, magnetic fields, and plasma ions. The deployable spacecraft will provide multi-point and multi-baseline measurements of the magnetic field to determine the nature of fluctuations on electron scales.

Please join us and register your support for Debye under this link: 
https://goo.gl/forms/HZfYhIV1R6c0r4RO2

Debye has reached the second step in ESA’s down-selection process and is now in competition with five other F-Class candidates. The mission is led by University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory (Mission PI: Robert Wicks, Mission co-PI Science: Daniel Verscharen) and has important hardware contributions from countries across Europe and from partners in Japan and the US.

We will hold a Debye team meeting during the EGU General Assembly in Vienna on 10 April 2019 from 10:45 until 12:30. It will take place at the conference centre in Room 2.17 (Red Level 2, second floor). Please come and join us!

You can also follow Debye on Twitter: @DebyeMission,
or find more information on our website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/research-projects/2018/dec/debye

If you have any questions about Debye, please don’t hesitate to contact me (d.verscharen at ucl.ac.uk).

Daniel Verscharen (on behalf of the Debye Team)

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JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Position in Space Physics – Work with Data from the Rosetta Ion Composition Analyzer 

From: Annelie (annelie at irf.se)

Postdoctoral Position in Space Physics – Work with data from the Rosetta Ion Composition Analyzer (Closing date for applications is 29 March 2019)

The Solar System Physics and Space Technology research programme at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna invites applications for a Postdoctoral position in Space Physics, related to the ESA Rosetta mission to comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta is the first mission to follow a comet for an extended time, from low activity far from the sun to high activity around perihelion. The Rosetta mission is now in an intensive data analysis phase, following the ending of the mission in September 2016. Applications are invited both for a 2-year post-doc position and for shorter periods for guest scientists.

The advertised position is a research position for studies of the cometary plasma environment and its interaction with the solar wind primarily using ion data from the Ion Composition Analyzer (ICA) on board Rosetta but also using data from the other instruments that form the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC). Work using numerical models of different aspects of the comet plasma environment is also part of the data analysis effort.

Previous experience of working with plasma and/or particle data from space missions is required. Relevant experience with planetary – solar wind interaction studies is a merit. Work with simulations and numerical models is also a merit.

(Closing date for applications is 29 March 2019)

More information: https://www2.irf.se/Topical/Vacancies/?group=P3&vacid=35&chosen=topical

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JOB OPENING: Postdoc on Machine Learning in Amsterdam (NL)

From: Enrico Camporeale (e.camporeale at cwi.nl)

Applications are invited for a full-time postdoctoral position at the Dutch national research institute for mathematics and computer science (CWI) in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).  The project is part of the AIDA (Artificial Intelligence for Data Analysis) H2020 Consortium funded by the European Commission. 
The AIDA consortium will develop data analysis, machine learning and simulation tools to more effectively use space data for physical predictions and understanding. One of the main aims is to collectively develop a user-friendly, open-source Python package to facilitate the application of machine learning techniques to the vast amount of available data.
This position focuses on machine learning methods and more traditional data analysis approaches. You will construct machine learning models for classification and regression, implement methods for dimensionality reduction and data clustering, and incorporate these methods into the open-source Python tool. 

Candidates are required to have a PhD degree. They should have a strong background in at least one of the following areas: data science, machine learning, heliophysics (or related). 

Applications will be accepted until 1 April 2019. Applications should be sent to apply at cwi.nl and they should include:

- A letter of motivation (less than one page) including research interests and reasons for applying for this position
- A CV including a summary of technical and scientific experience
- A list of publications and (a link to) the PhD thesis
- Contact information of at least two references who can provide letters of recommendation

For more information about the vacancy, please contact Jannis Teunissen, jannis.teunissen at cwi.nl and/or Enrico Camporeale, e.camporeale at cwi.nl

The full announcement is available on:
https://www.cwi.nl/jobs/vacancies/postdoc-on-the-subject-of-machine-learning-in-space-physics

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JOB OPENING: Postdoc Position in Planetary Science

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

The Space Research Institute (IWF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) is offering a Postdoc position (f/m) in planetary science (full time / 40h per week) in the area of planetary science and space plasma physics focusing on the BepiColombo mission for Mercury. The Space Research Institute in Graz leads the magnetic field experiment on board MMO spacecraft as a PI institute. 

For further details see 

https://www.oeaw.ac.at/de/die-oeaw/karriere-jobs/offene-stellen/

The application deadline is March 31, 2019. For more information, contact Dr. Yasuhito Narita (yasuhito.narita at oeaw.ac.at) or Dr. Ferdinand Plaschke (ferdinand.plaschke at oeaw.ac.at).

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

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