[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXVIII, Issue 16

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXVIII, Issue 16
Mar.29,2021

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Table of Contents

1. Decadal Survey White Paper Organization

2. Decadal Survey Preparatory Discussions (Pre-/Post-Heliophysics 2050 Workshop)

3. Call for New Members of the Executive Committee of the Living with a Star Program Analysis Group (LPAG)

4. Benchmarking Challenge I: Validation of Radiation Belt Codes

5. MEETING: Heliophysics 2050 Workshop Abstract Deadline Reminder

6. MEETING: Parker Solar Probe Scholars – First Meeting April 27, 2021

7. MEETING: Virtual Conference on "Applications of Statistical Methods and Machine Learning in the Space Sciences”, 17-21 May 2021 -- Reminder

8. SESSION: National Astronomy Meeting (NAM2021) Session: Waves and Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere in the High-Resolution Era

9. Magnetosphere Online Seminar Series

10. SHIELD Upcoming Webinar - April 9 at 2pm - Young Voices

11. (Machine) Learning to Live Near a Temperamental Star

12. PhD Student Position in Space Physics at Umeå University, Sweden

13. PhD Student Position in Space Physics at Uppsala University, Sweden

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


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Decadal Survey White Paper Organization

From: Jared Leisner (jared.s.leisner at nasa.gov)

To support community self-organization ahead of the decadal survey, a webpage has been set up for individuals to share their plans for decadal white papers with the heliophysics community. 

The intention is for community members to use this page to coordinate similar white papers, solicit comments from interested researchers, and make connections that lead to refined and new white papers. The webpage is based on the Lunar and Planetary Institute’s successful model used for a previous decadal survey, and can be found at: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/decadal_whitepaper_proposals/heliophysics/

This site is for community information only and is not part of the National Academies' activities. The decadal survey sponsoring agencies do not approve, reject, or modify white paper concepts submitted.

Listing a white paper proposal here does not commit the author to submit a white paper to the decadal survey, and an individual is not required to list a white paper here in order to submit it for the decadal survey.

Any questions about NASA Heliophysics Division’s preparation for the decadal survey should be directed to Jared Leisner (jared.s.leisner at nasa.gov).


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Decadal Survey Preparatory Discussions (Pre-/Post-Heliophysics 2050 Workshop)

From: Jared Leisner (jared.s.leisner at nasa.gov)

To augment the impact of the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop (May 3-7) on the community’s pre-decadal preparation, NASA is supporting additional opportunities for community coordination.

     1. Pre-Workshop, NASA is encouraging preparatory discussions so that the In-Workshop discussions are as productive as possible.
     2. Post-Workshop, NASA is encouraging follow-on discussions that can take threads that arise at the Workshop and further develop them as part of decadal survey white paper preparation. 

NASA especially encourages discussions on interdisciplinary science, science that expands the field of heliophysics, a coherent pipeline from basic research to operational activities, and state of the profession topics. Topics should be focused enough to be productive without being so focused that discussion threads outside of established canon are excluded.

Given the limited time before the Workshop, groups are encouraged to meet at least once a week. After the Workshop, groups will be encouraged to consider the decadal survey white paper deadlines when scheduling.

Some pre-Workshop groups are currently meeting, and interested individuals are encouraged to contact the organizer for connection information:
  Larry Kepko (larry.kepko at nasa.gov): Terrestrial magnetospheric science.
  Shasha Zou (shashaz at umich.edu): Terrestrial ITM science.
  Albert Y. Shih (albert.y.shih at nasa.gov): High-energy solar physics.
  Dan Seaton (Daniel.Seaton at Colorado.EDU): Middle corona and connection to heliosphere.
  Mark Linton (mark.linton at nrl.navy.mil): Solar interior and atmospheric science.

To volunteer to organize a new group, contact Ian Cohen (ian.cohen at jhuapl.edu) to coordinate. No topic relevant to the Workshop and the decadal survey will be discouraged. A modest honorarium is available for eligible organizers.

All groups must be open to all interested members of the community. All groups must abide by the highest standards of conduct.

Any questions about NASA Heliophysics Division’s preparation for the decadal survey should be directed to Jared Leisner (jared.s.leisner at nasa.gov).

Links:
  Heliophysics Division Decadal Survey webpage: https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/resources/2024_decadal_survey
  Heliophysics 2050 Workshop: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/helio2050/


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Call for New Members of the Executive Committee of the Living with a Star Program Analysis Group (LPAG)

From: Jeff Morrill, Simon Plunkett, Madhulika (Lika) Guhathakurta (jeff.s morrill at nasa.gov)

Dear Colleague,      

We are seeking well qualified candidates for the Executive Committee of the Living with a Star Program Analysis Group (LPAG), formerly the LWS TR&T Steering Committee. As with its predecessor, the LPAG performs a vital role by providing an opportunity for the Heliophysics Community to provide input and information to the LWS program. Examples of the activities that the LPAG is asked to address include:

* Articulation of the key scientific drivers for LWS scientific research including potential focused science topics (FSTs), strategic capabilities, cross-cutting research, and others;
* Evaluation of the expected capabilities of potential LWS missions for achieving the science goals of the program;
* Evaluation of LWS goals, objectives, investigations, and required measurements;
* Articulation of focus areas for targeted research and technology development; and
* Analysis of related activities such as ground-based observing, theory and modeling programs, laboratory Heliophysics, suborbital investigations, data archiving, and community engagement.

The terms of reference for the LPAG are located on the LWS web site:
(https://lwstrt.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/pdf/LPAG_TOR_2017_Final_Signed.pdf). 

As part of the LPAG process, four of the twelve members of the current Executive Committee are stepping down to allow for new membership. We are currently seeking four members from the Heliophysics community with a solid understanding of the scientific basis of Heliophysics system science. Highly qualified candidates from all career stages, including early career, will be considered. Membership in the LPAG is nominally three years. In the past, the LPAG Executive Committee would meet in person for three days twice a year.  Due to COVID-19 restrictions, however, the LPAG met virtually in 2020 and plans are for this meeting format to continue in 2021 with the expectation that in person meeting may resume in 2022.  Participation in these meetings and during occasional telecons is expected for continued membership on the Executive Committee. In addition, members may participate in community engagement at various scientific meetings during the year either through soliciting input from the wider community or presenting status of LPAG activities. Additional information can be found on the LWS website at:

https://lwstrt.gsfc.nasa.gov/lpag

To be a candidate for the LPAG Executive Committee, send your submission to the LWS program staff at the email addresses below. Please include in your submission a brief summary of the contributions you would make to the committee and your qualifications for doing so, as well as a single-page CV. This submission must be limited to a two-page PDF file. Nominations will only be accepted for scientists who reside at a U.S. institution for the period of service. We will accept submissions until midnight Eastern Daylight Time on April 25, 2021.  The details of the selection process are discussed in the LPAG TOR. Please feel free to share this letter with anyone you think would be interested.

Simon Plunkett
simon.p.plunkett at nasa.gov

Madhulika (Lika) Guhathakurta
Madhulika.Guhathakurta at nasa.gov

Jeff Morrill
jeff.s.morrill at nasa.gov


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Benchmarking Challenge I: Validation of Radiation Belt Codes

From: Yihua Zheng (yihua.zheng at nasa.gov)

The ISWAT G3.04 team (https://iswat-cospar.org/G3-04) is conducting a Benchmarking challenge to evaluate the performance of various radiation belt codes. The objective of the challenge is to  objectively quantify how well the different codes perform during various conditions, and how accurately they can reconstruct the radiation environment for the purpose of evaluating the effects of internal charging. The first step of the benchmarking will be the evaluation of physics-based models driven by GEO observations.

Detailed guidelines regarding this challenge can be found on https://iswat-cospar.org/G3-04 under ‘Team Activities’ or here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/18pMh-HV8JbB7EULJdJq6soVLoYo0X9Dp/view ). 

We’d like to invite you to participate in such effort, which will benefit both scientific and operational communities. Please submit your modeling results (also relevant observations) by July 1, 2021.

Results can be submitted via the following ftp (see instructions here under Team Activities (https://iswat-cospar.org/G3-04). Please contact Yihua Zheng (yihua.zheng at nasa.gov) if you run into problems.

Look forward to your participation. 

Yuri Shprits (GFZ Potsdam, Germany), yuri.shprits at gfz-potsdam.de
T. Paul O'Brien (Aerospace Corp., USA), paul.obrien at aero.org
Ian Mann (University of Alberta, Canada), imann at ualberta.ca
Yihua Zheng (NASA GSFC, USA), yihua.zheng at nasa.gov


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MEETING: Heliophysics 2050 Workshop Abstract Deadline Reminder

From: Debbie Mitchell (dmitchell at hou.usra.edu)

The workshop will examine current scientific understanding and what near-term investigations can enable and inform future investigations. From this scientific progression, the workshop will explore fundamental connections that map current understanding to the next set of research investigations which will, in turn, enable next-generation studies. These investigations will cover the range of work from basic research to operational efforts and would be agnostic to their mode of execution. This approach will enable the next Decadal Survey to lay out a long-term science strategy.

At the workshop Program page, find information about and links to the preceding volume, white papers, and program.

Call for Poster Abstracts
Poster presenters and attendees are encouraged to discuss the long-term impact of the presented topics, with an eye toward collaboration in submitting white papers to the Heliophysics Decadal Survey. Solicited poster abstracts are limited to 2,500 characters, and an abstract pdf is not required. Reference the Call for Poster Abstracts page for more information.

Abstract submission deadline — April 4, 2021, 12:00 p.m. U.S. Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)

Registration deadline — April 26, 2021

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/helio2050/


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MEETING: Parker Solar Probe Scholars – First Meeting April 27, 2021

From: Nour E. Raouafi (Nour.Raouafi at jhuapl.edu)

The Parker Solar Probe team is launching a new meeting series, i.e., the Parker Solar Probe Scholars, to promote heliophysics research by early-career scientists. The new platform will provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, etc., to showcase their research, advance their careers, foster collaborations, and seek help when needed. It is also meant to promote diversity and interest in recent space missions (e.g., Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter) and heliophysics in general, and do so in a friendly and collegial environment. 
Parker Solar Probe Scholars will be a regular virtual meeting series – a half to a full day meeting every three months. Although the forum is open to all scientists interested in Parker Solar Probe science, the priority will be given to early-career scientists. Senior scientists are also invited to attend and participate in the discussions, mentor, and advise.
The first installment of this series will be on April 27, 2021. All information about the meeting series (e.g., how to join the mailing list, present your work, and attend the meetings) is available at the Parker Solar Probe Scholars website: https://sppgway.jhuapl.edu/psp_scholars.
Contributions can be submitted through https://sppgway.jhuapl.edu/psp_scholars_abstract.

For further information, questions, and suggestions, contact Nour E. Raouafi (PSP Project Scientist, Nour.Raouafi at jhuapl.edu).


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MEETING: Virtual Conference on "Applications of Statistical Methods and Machine Learning in the Space Sciences”, 17-21 May 2021 -- Reminder

From: Bala Poduval (bpoduval at spacescience.org)

Virtual Conference on "Applications of Statistical Methods and Machine Learning in the Space Sciences”, 17-21 May 2021

Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, is hosting a virtual conference on "Applications of Statistical Methods and Machine Learning in the Space Sciences" during 17-21 May 2021.
Please visit: http://spacescience.org/workshops/mlconference2021.php for further details and links for abstract submission and registration.

Due dates: 
abstract submission is 31 March 2021
registration: 30 April 2021

For questions, please email: bpoduval at spacescience.org or reach out to any member on the SOC.

Bala Poduval
On Behalf of the Scientific Organizing Committee: M. Balikhin, J. Borovsky, R. D'Amicis, M. Dainotti, M. Georgoulis, J. Johnson, K. Pitman, B. Poduval, R. Shuping, O. Verkhoglyadova, S. Wing, P. Wintoft.


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SESSION: National Astronomy Meeting (NAM2021) Session: Waves and Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere in the High-Resolution Era

From: Noemi Zsamberger, David Kuridze, Anne-Marie Broomhall, Robertus Erdelyi (nzsamberger1 at sheffield.ac.uk)

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to cordially invite your submissions to our session “Waves and Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere in the High-Resolution Era” at the National Astronomy Meeting (NAM2021), to be held online, with the organisation of the University of Bath, from Saturday 19th July to Friday 23rd July, 2021. Contributions can be both oral and poster presentations. The deadline for abstract submissions is 17:00 (UTC) on Friday 30th April 2021.

The session will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and expertise in the field of solar atmospheric waves and oscillations, with a special focus on new theoretical, modelling and observational results obtained thanks to a variety of new instrumentation (such as SDO/AIA, Parker Solar Probe, SST, GREGOR and DKIST) with unprecedented high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution capabilities. The provisory time and date of our session is 9:00 on Wednesday, 21 July 2021.

Further information about the meeting and the session is available at: https://nam2021.org/science/parallel-sessions/details/2/105.


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Magnetosphere Online Seminar Series

From: Jason Shuster (magnetosphere.seminars at gmail.com)

We invite you to join us every Monday at 12pm (ET) for the weekly Magnetosphere Online Seminar Series.

On Monday, March 29, George Hospodarsky will present on Search Coil Magnetometers. A link to join the seminar via Zoom or YouTube can be found on our home page:
https://msolss.github.io/MagSeminars/
The password to join the Zoom seminar is: Mag at 1

Due to Easter weekend and the MMS meeting in early April, there will be no seminars on April 5 and April 12. We will resume on April 19 with with Harald Frey who is scheduled to discuss Optical Instruments.  

You can view the current 2021 schedule here:
https://msolss.github.io/MagSeminars/schedule.html

Add your name to our mailing list here:
https://msolss.github.io/MagSeminars/mail-list.html

Read about previous talks here:
https://msolss.github.io/MagSeminars/blog.html


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SHIELD Upcoming Webinar - April 9 at 2pm - Young Voices

From: Parisa Mostafavi, Elena Provornikova (shieldoutreach at bu.edu)

Title of Announcement: Upcoming SHIELD Webinar: Fri April 9th, 2021 2:00 PM EST

Young Voices
Speaker: Parisa Mostafavi
Heliospheric shocks Propagating Beyond the Heliosphere: How Far Does the Sun’s Influence Extend into the Interstellar Medium
Current spacecraft have identified many interesting discoveries about shocks’ structure in the outer heliosphere and the very local interstellar medium (VLISM). In this talk, I summarize how the structure of heliospheric shock waves changes with distance from the Sun. A two-fluid (thermal gas and nonthermal energetic particles) model has been used to study the shock structures observed in these regions. We show that a small percentage of the solar wind flow energy at the upstream of the heliospheric termination shock (HTS) is converted to downstream thermal heating, as it was observed by Voyager 2 and nonthermal energetic particles called pickup ions (PUIs) provide almost all the dissipative heating of the bulk flow energy at the HTS. Next, we study the inner heliosheath (IHS) medium and show that the IHS temperature mediation due to the presence of many shocks results in the more effective production of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). The predicted ENA flux matches the observed IBEX ENA flux more closely when shock waves are present in the IHS. Voyager 1 and 2 crossed the heliopause in 2012 and 2018, respectively, and are both continue to make in-situ measurements of the VLISM for the first time. The first observed VLISM shock by Voyager 1 was extremely broad, exhibiting properties very different from those shocks in the heliosphere. We find that the VLISM is collisional with respect to the thermal plasma (unlike the collisionless heliosphere), and the broad VLISM shock structure is due to thermal particle collisions. Many interesting questions have been raised about shocks propagation by Voyager 1 and 2 traveling into the ISM. However, they were not instrumented properly to elucidate the physics of shocks in a completely different medium, and thus a dedicated spacecraft is needed. A future interstellar probe is the first deliberate mission to the interstellar medium through the outer heliosphere with the dedicated set of observations to answer the most debated questions about the heliosphere and discover our local interstellar neighborhood.

Speaker: Elena Provornikova
Interstellar Probe: a future mission to unravel mysteries of the heliosphere and its interstellar neighborhood
An Interstellar Probe mission to the local interstellar medium would bring new discoveries of physical mechanisms shaping our vast heliosphere and directly sample the unexplored Local Interstellar Cloud that our Sun is traveling through. Interstellar Probe would enable for the first time to explore the heliosphere edge with dedicated instrumentation, to take the image of the global heliosphere by looking back and explore in-situ the Sun`s interstellar neighborhood. The Interstellar Probe would represent Humanity’s first explicit step into the galaxy. In this presentation, I will give an overview of heliophysics science for the mission and discuss the compelling discoveries that await on the journey up to 1000 AU from the Sun.

Friday, April 9
2 PM EST
Register Here:
https://bostonu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJArde-tqz8qGNeJxsf7r3WQHKD8agy9-Ikv


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(Machine) Learning to Live Near a Temperamental Star

From: Gina Mantica (gmantica at bu.edu)

On Monday April 26 11:00am-12:00pm ET, Jacob Bortnik, Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at University of California, Los Angeles, will discuss novel ways in which the power of machine learning can be harnessed to understand, specify, and even predict what the Sun might do as part of the Boston University Hariri Institute for Computing's Distinguished Speaker Series: Machine Learning for Model-Rich Problems. 

Abstract: We are all space travelers. We live aboard “spaceship Earth” that travels about the Sun at a dazzling speed, enjoying its life-giving light and warmth, but subjected to its frequent outbursts: solar flares, energetic particles, and clouds of plasma averaging over a trillion kilograms in mass that are ejected towards the Earth at speeds that are hundreds of times faster than a speeding bullet.  The effects of this space environment on our technological systems is known as “space weather” and we are currently more vulnerable to space weather than ever before, as we launch an unprecedented number of satellites into orbit around the Earth, build ever longer pipelines, and enjoy electrical power grids that are interconnected across entire continents.  Fortunately, we are also collecting more data than ever before, observing the Sun and the Earth in unprecedented detail, and running sophisticated numerical models to help us understand our observations, which create more data ... but what to do with all that data?  In this talk, we review some of the essentials of space weather, and discuss novel ways in which the power of machine learning can be harnessed to understand, specify, and even predict what our temperamental star next door might do.


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PhD Student Position in Space Physics at Umeå University, Sweden

From: Maria Hamrin (Maria.Hamrin at space.umu.se)

JOB OPENING: PhD Student Position in Space Physics at Umeå University, Sweden

In the project we will investigate properties of magnetosheath jets (localized kinetic energy enhancements) upstream Earth and their effects on the magnetosphere. In our investigations will use data from several spacecraft ASA and ESA missions and ground-based observatories. The PhD project will be conducted in close collaboration with scientists from the University Centre in Svalbard, Charles University in Prague, and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Last day to apply is May 15, 2021. Starting date, September 1, 2021, or by appointment.

The entire advertisement can be found on:
https://www.umu.se/en/work-with-us/open-positions/phd-position-in-space-physics_391223/

For further information, contact Maria Hamrin, maria.hamrin at space.umu.se.


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PhD Student Position in Space Physics at Uppsala University, Sweden

From: Yuri Khotyaintsev (yuri at irfu.se)

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Uppsala University is looking for a PhD student in Space Physics. The PhD student will work together with supervisors at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) located at the Ångström laboratory in Uppsala. Our team performs observations, data analysis and modelling of space plasma processes (https://space.irfu.se). The team has decades of experience in developing and operating instruments to measure electric fields, plasma temperature, density and density fluctuations for spacecraft missions (e.g. Solar Orbiter, Rosetta, Cassini, Cluster, MMS and Swarm). The PhD student will study plasma processes in the solar wind, a plasma wind continuously emitted from the sun into the whole solar system, using observations from our latest project, Solar Orbiter, launched February 2020 (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter). 

For more information please see: 
https://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/join-us/details/?positionId=383384

Application deadline: April 15, 2021.


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