[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXXI, Issue 35

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXXI, Issue 35
Jun.11,2024

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Table of Contents

1. MEETING: May 2024 Solar & Geospace Superstorm Workshop -- First Announcement

2. MEETING: 2024 DASH/IHDEA Meeting: Registration Is Now Open!

3. SESSION: GEM 2024 Ground Magnetometer Advisory Board Session

4. SESSION: GEM 2024 Focus Group Sessions "Kinetic Plasma Processes in the Magnetotail during Substorm Dynamics (KiTS)"

5. SESSION: GEM 2024 Joint MESO-CGS Session, Thursday, June 27th

6. SHIELD Seed Funding and Early Career Support

7. JOB OPENING: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position – Space Physicist

8. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Researcher for TRACERS/MAGIC at the University of Iowa

9. JOB OPENING: Research Associate / Senior Research Associate in Ionospheric Outflow at Jupiter

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


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MEETING: May 2024 Solar & Geospace Superstorm Workshop -- First Announcement

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

>From 8-12 May 2024, the Sun displayed an unusual degree of activity, with active region NOAA AR3664 emitting multiple X-class flares and Earth-directed coronal mass ejections. As a result, the third-strongest solar storm of the space age ensued and the first one of this magnitude featuring a wealth of observations from spaceborne and ground-based assets, as well as state-of-the-art models. This remarkable storm has generated a lot of interest from the scientific community and drew significant attention from the public and the media towards some of the most intriguing heliophysics phenomena and their impact on our society. Analyzing diverse observations and simulations of this event from across the heliosphere (including the Sun, the inner heliosphere, the Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, atmosphere, and ground) present an exceptional chance for the scientific community to gather around a common focal point and gain valuable insights into the physics of strong solar disturbances and how they interact with the near-Earth space.

The workshop is specifically designed to concentrate on the “May 2024 Solar & Geospace Superstorm” and its consequent effects on Earth's environment. Analyzing these events opens up extensive avenues for expanding our knowledge, as multiple aspects necessitate thorough investigation. Our aim is to unite experts in solar, magnetospheric, and ionospheric & atmospheric physics to collectively comprehend the full implications of these events. We encourage the submission of abstracts that involve data analysis and coordinated observations, as well as theories and numerical simulations relevant to this topic. Additionally, we plan to organize one or more special issues in peer-reviewed journals to publish the scientific findings from this workshop.

The Workshop is scheduled to take place from October 28 to November 1, 2024, at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). Further information regarding registration and abstract submission will be forthcoming.

For further information, contact Nour E. Raouafi (Nour.Rawafi at jhuapl.edu).


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MEETING: 2024 DASH/IHDEA Meeting: Registration Is Now Open!

From: Arnaud Masson (Arnaud.Masson at esa.int)

Calling all software developers and scientists who are interested in algorithms, software and data systems related to heliophysics (solar physics, space physics, geospace and related sciences)! Come see what your colleagues are working on!

Mark your calendars! 14-18 October 2024, at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) of ESA, near Madrid, Spain and hybrid: DASH (Data Analysis and Software in Heliophysics) and IHDEA (International Heliophysics Data environment Alliance) annual meetings.

Registration is now open! Abstracts can be submitted until August 10.
On-site registration closes on September 15 and online registration on October 7. More information at https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/ihdea/ihdea-dash-2024

Looking forward to seeing you!!
DASH Science Organising Committee


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SESSION: GEM 2024 Ground Magnetometer Advisory Board Session

From: Zhonghua Xu, Michelle Salzano (msalzano at spacescience.org)

Dear colleagues,

The Ground Magnetometer Advisory Board (GMAG) will be hosting a session at GEM on Friday June 28th from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM MT in the Gold and Green (G+G) room as well as virtually via zoom. This session will feature important updates from funding agencies and ground-based array PIs, alongside a pivotal discussion on developing a ground-based magnetometer facility as a "one-stop service center". 

Ground magnetometer board meetings are part of a community-driven effort aimed at:
1. Reviewing the operations, status, and performance of all US-funded ground magnetometer arrays.
2. Discussing priorities for future ground magnetometer locations in consultation with the wider community, including USGS, ULTIMA, and NSF.
3. Transitioning towards a Facility/DASI operations model as recommended by the 2015-2016 NSF Geospace Portfolio Review.
4. Facilitating the production and dissemination of high-level data products that support scientific investigations, spacecraft missions, modeling efforts, and space weather forecasts.

This session promises to be an invaluable platform for collaboration and strategic planning within the space weather research community. We encourage all attendees to participate actively in these discussions to help shape the future of ground-based magnetometer networks. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to either Zhonghua Xu (zxu77 at vt.edu) or Michelle Salzano (msalzano at spacescience.org).

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Best regards,
Zhonghua and Michelle


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SESSION: GEM 2024 Focus Group Sessions "Kinetic Plasma Processes in the Magnetotail during Substorm Dynamics (KiTS)"

From: Jason Derr (jason.derr at westpoint.edu)

Dear SPA Community,

The new Kinetic Plasma Processes in the Magnetotail during Substorm Dynamics (KiTS) Focus Group cordially invites you to participate in the upcoming GEM Workshop in June of this year. We plan on holding the following four sessions throughout the week:

6/24/2024 (3:30pm-5:00pm MT): Thin current sheets & their formation, location, and stability.
6/26/2024 (10:30am-12:00pm MT): This is a joint session with the RX FG where we will explore the question: What is the location, timing, and importance of reconnection throughout the magnetotail?
6/26/2024 (1:30pm-3:00pm MT): Plasma populations within the magnetotail and their role in substorm dynamics.
6/27/2024 (1:30pm-3:00pm MT): This will be a joint session with the MESO FG where we will look at the different energization mechanism for different plasma species in the magnetotail and how that affects the nightside transition region.

Each session will be hybrid to encourage engagement from those who cannot come in person. We will open with a few talks, but we hope to have a productive conversation in each session so we will be limiting the number of speakers. However, if you are interested in presenting 1-2 slides please send an email to jason.derr at westpoint.edu or harry.arnold at jhuapl.edu and we will try to provide some time to present interesting result. However, it may be the case that not everyone who wants to present will be able to do so, so please also consider presenting a poster.  

Sincerely,

Jason Derr (jason.derr at westpoint.edu)
Harry Arnold (harry.arnold at jhuapl.edu)
Anton Artemyev (aartemyev at igpp.ucla.edu)
Akhtar Ardakani (Akhtar.ShojaeiArdakani at unh.edu)


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SESSION: GEM 2024 Joint MESO-CGS Session, Thursday, June 27th

From: Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, Adam Michael, Emma Spanswick, Kevin Pham, and Gareth Perry (adam.michael at jhuapl.edu)

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to participate in the joint session between the MESO focus group and the NASA DRIVE Science Center for Geospace Storms (CGS) at the upcoming 2024 GEM Workshop. This is an ongoing session where the discussion will focus on data-model comparisons, including MAGE simulations and TREx-RGB auroral observations, with an emphasis on mesoscale dynamics within the nightside transition region. The selected events to guide discussion will be the three recent geomagnetic storm events associated with the Heliophysics Big Year:
1. 2023 March 23
2. 2023 April 24
3. 2024 May 10

The session will take place on Thursday (6/27) from 3:30-5:00pm. We would like to invite contributions from the community to include in the discussion of these events. In a classic GEM style, we are planning to dedicate most of our time to a discussion. If you would like to contribute, please contact Bea Gallardo-Lacourt (bea.gallardolacourt at nasa.gov) or Adam Michael (adam.michael at jhuapl.edu) by June 17 to be included in the schedule. 

The schedule will be will be posted on the MESO FG page as well as the CGS website at a later time. Thank you in advance for your participation and contribution to our special session!

Thank you,
Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, Adam Michael, Emma Spanswick, Kevin Pham, and Gareth Perry


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SHIELD Seed Funding and Early Career Support

From: Nick Gross (gross at bu.edu)

SHIELD Seed Funding and Early Career Support

The SHIELD Team requests science proposals for SHIELD Seed funding and Early Career support.  

The SHIELD NASA DRIVE Center (https://shielddrivecenter.com) is an international collaboration involving researchers from over half a dozen institutions, and led by Merav Opher from the Astronomy Department at Boston University.  SHIELD’s goals are to: (1) determine the global nature of the heliosphere; (2) determine how pickup ions evolve from ‘cradle to grave’ and affect heliospheric processes; (3) establish how the heliosphere interacts with and influences the LISM; and (4) understand how cosmic rays are filtered by and transported through the heliosphere.

Seed Funding supports ideas that, although related to the proposed SHIELD work, represent a departure because they are innovative, emergent, and possibly high-risk. 

Early career funding supports undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs working on SHIELD-related projects. 

The proposal instructions are on the SHIELD web site (https://shielddrivecenter.com/shield-seed-funding/). 

Due date is July 31, 2024.

Contacts: Merav Opher (mopher at bu.edu) and John Richardson (jdr at space.mit.edu)


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JOB OPENING: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position – Space Physicist

From: G.P. Zank (garyp.zank at gmail.com)

ABOUT THE POSITION: The Department of Space Science is seeking an outstanding scientist and teacher to fill a tenure-track assistant professor position in the field of heliophysics. This position will complement a National Science Foundation Established Program in Support of Competitive Research (EPSCoR) grant that was previously awarded to UAH. Within the general field of low temperature plasma physics, areas of particular interest to the Department include solar and interplanetary physics, especially research that supports the new Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter, IMAP, and HelioSwarm missions in which the Department is engaged, particularly in the areas of coronal and solar wind physics including heating processes, turbulence, particle transport and energization (including pickup ion physics), and related space weather research. We are also looking to possibly expand departmental expertise in the area of magnetospheric and ionospheric physics. The ideal candidate will complement existing strengths within the Department while expanding significantly research capabilities and competencies. We are seeking someone who uses theory, and/or modeling, and observations to address these areas of interest. The successful candidate will teach in accordance with a typical teaching load in the Department, will develop at least two new advanced graduate level courses reflecting their research expertise, and will support and mentor graduate students pursuing MSc and PhD degrees and undergraduate students in summer programs. It is expected that the successful candidate will have a PhD or equivalent degree in a field appropriate to the job description above and will have and pursue independent research funding. 

APPOINTMENT DATE: Spring 2025

APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND DEADLINE:  Applicants must submit a complete CV, a list of publications, a list of awarded research grants, a research statement, a teaching statement, and arrange to have three letters of reference sent to the SPA Space Physics Faculty Search Committee 2024, Department of Space Science, Cramer Research Hall, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35899 or by email to pittsa at uah.edu with the header Faculty Space Physics Search Committee 2024. Applications will remain open until position is filled.

Inquiries regarding the position or the procedure for application can be directed to Prof. Gary Zank and Ms Antonia Pitts, respectively.  

The University of Alabama in Huntsville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer of minorities/females/veterans/disabled.

UAH mandates that all employees maintain compliance with current federal regulations.

Please refer to log number: 23-24-586


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JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral Researcher for TRACERS/MAGIC at the University of Iowa

From: Davi Miles (david-miles at uiowa.edu)

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Scholar with an interest in experimental space physics and/or instrumentation to join a dynamic and expanding group of researchers. The department has a long history of building space-based instrumentation including 69 successful satellite and rocket missions. We are now leading the TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) Small Explorer mission currently scheduled to launch in 2023.

The researcher will join a diverse, early-career instrument team for MAGIC – a new fluxgate magnetometer Technology Demonstration (NPR7120.8A) payload that will fly on the TRACERS satellite mission. MAGIC is a next generation magnetic field instrument incorporating new low-noise cores manufactured from scratch. The researcher will support MAGIC through launch, commissioning, and operations and assist in the in-situ calibration of the instrument, the creation of magnetic field scientific data products, and the scientific interpretation of the magnetic field measurements of the Earth’s Northern magnetospheric Cusp. The researcher will be encouraged to spend a portion of their time developing a self-directed program of original research and preparing and submitting their own research funding proposals. A willingness to work collaboratively with faculty, technical and scientific staff, and to mentor students from a wide range of disciplines, cultures and academic backgrounds is essential.

The researcher will be expected to communicate their research through the publication of peer-reviewed journal articles and encouraged to undertake domestic and international travel in support of the research program. The project is highly collaborative, involving national and international topics experts, to further the scientific goals of the project and enable new scientific opportunities. The researcher may have the opportunity to help plan and develop new mission concepts and proposals.

The University of Iowa is a premier US public research university with 31,000 students from 114 countries and all 50 states. Founded in 1847, it is the state's oldest institution of higher education. The university is located along the picturesque Iowa River in Iowa City, a city of some 77,000 people (170,000+ in the metro area) with a cosmopolitan atmosphere, exceptional cultural resources, excellent public schools and libraries, and outstanding medical care. Iowa City is regularly ranked as one of the nation’s best places to live. Iowa City is less than four hours from Chicago and within five hours of Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Kansas City, readily accessible via interstate highways and a regional airport 30 minutes away. The Department of Physics and Astronomy is located in Van Allen Hall – named for our own Prof. James Van Allen whose many discoveries include the Earth’s radiation belts that now bear his name.

The position is available immediately with a negotiable start date. This initial term is two years with the potential of renewal. Salary will match or exceed the University of Iowa’s standard for post-doctoral scholars and scale with the applicant’s experience.
• https://www.grad.uiowa.edu/postdocs/current-postdocs/university-benefits
• https://uiowa.edu/about
• https://physics.uiowa.edu
• https://miles.lab.uiowa.edu
• https://www.instagram.com/spacephysics/

To apply, please email david-miles at uiowa.edu and include:
• A letter of interest describing your background, research interests, and relevant experience
• A curriculum vitae (CV) detailing education, awards, publications, and research experience
• The contact information for three references


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JOB OPENING: Research Associate / Senior Research Associate in Ionospheric Outflow at Jupiter

From: Licia Ray (licia.ray at lancaster.ac.uk)

An exciting new opportunity exists to work on an STFC-funded project investigating ionospheric outflow at Jupiter. The post is based in the Space and Planetary Physics (SPP) group within the Physics Department at Lancaster University with project partners at UCL. The position comes with funding for travel, computing, and opportunities for professional development. You will join us on an indefinite contract. The role is contingent on external funding that, for this position, ends 31 March 2027.

With the Juno mission currently in orbit, there have been many advances in our understanding of the Jovian system The importance of ionospheric outflow is an outstanding question with implications for atmospheric and magnetospheric dynamics. You will work to globally characterise Jupiter’s ionospheric outflow though development of a 1-D numerical model in conjunction with 3D General Circulation Models of the thermosphere and the latest descriptions of the planet’s intrinsic magnetic field structure. 

People with skills in numerical modelling and a background in planetary physics, including magnetospheric and/or atmospheric expertise are particularly encouraged to apply. For full details, see: https://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=0619-24 

Prospective candidates are encouraged to contact project PI Dr Licia Ray (licia.ray at lancaster.ac.uk) for further information about the position. 

The deadline for applications is Sunday 21 July 2024.


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

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