ISWI Newsletter - Vol.9 No.17
20 December 2017

Dear ISWI Participant:

This is the last issue of Year 2017. I wish to thank everyone who sent in material since the start of the year. Please continue to send in relevant material in 2018 so that all members of ISWI can what you have been doing. Inquiring minds wanna know.

Photo reports of events are especially appreciated because photos are viewed easily and also smash through language barriers. The photos need captions but from my experience newsletter readers tend to ignore ponderous text. So keep the text light.

The important thing is leaving a permanent record (somewhere!) of your events and activities so that we all know what is going on in "ISWI World". And if you procrastinate for several months, all the motivation you once had to write it up will usually dissipate. So write it up while you are still fired up and excited about what recently occurred in your corner of the world.

Finally, I wish to thank Mitko who has diligently archived all issues of the ISWI Newsletter since Year 2009. As you can see, your material is properly saved, and can be viewed many, many years after you sent in the material to me -- the beauty of the Digital Age.

Wishing all newsletter readers (there are over 500 subscribers now) a joyful and productive new year.

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

[1] Message from the Executive Director of ISWI, Dr. N. Gopalswamy (read it)

[2] M. Abdullah et al. Fostering research aptitude among high school students through space weather competition (read it)

[3] Update on the ISWI observation network (read it)

[4] Report on "2nd International School on Equatorial and Low Latitude Ionosphere" (ISELLI) Nigeria, 11÷15 September 2017 (read it)

[5] IGRGEA LETTER, Number 59 Dec 2017 (read it)

[6] Extension of deadline for manuscripts; UN/US ISWI workshop, Boston, July 31÷Aug 4, 2017 (read it)

[7] Call for Papers "Int'l Conference on Space Weather and Satellite Application, (ICeSSAT), Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, 7÷8 Aug 2018 (read it)

[1] Message from the Executive Director of ISWI Dr. N. Gopalswamy

Look at original: 

Send by Nat Gopalswamy

[2] M. Abdullah et al. Fostering research aptitude among high school students through space weather competition Advances in Space Research 61 (2018) 478‑486

Abstract

Cultivating research culture at an early stage is important for capacity building in a community. The high school level is the appropriate stage for research to be introduced because of students' competitive nature. Participation in the space weather competition is one of the ways in which research aptitude can be fostered in high school students in Malaysia.

Accordingly, this paper presents how research elements were introduced to the students at the high school level through their participation in the space weather competition. The competition required the students to build a system to detect the presence of solar ?ares by utilizing VLF signals re?ected from the ionosphere. The space weather competition started off with proposal writing for the space weather related project where the students were required to execute extensive literature review on the given topic. Additionally, the students were also required to conduct the experiments and analyse the data. Results obtained from data analysis were then validated by the students through various other observations that they had to carry out.

At the end of the competition, students were expected to write a comprehensive technical report. Through this competition, the students learnt how to conduct research in accordance to the guidelines provided through the step by step approach exposed to them. Ultimately, this project revealed that the students were able to conduct research on their own with minimal guidance and that participation in the competition not only generated enjoyment in learning but also their interest in science and research.

Read this article  

Send by M. Abudullah

[3] Update on the ISWI observation network

Dear ISWI colleagues,

Since the beginning of December, a new project has been added to ISWI: The Realistic Ionosphere (RI) project. Its Objective: To provide accurate and prompt nowcast of the 3D global plasma density distribution in the subpeak ionosphere. Lead Scientists of RI are Dr. Bodo Reinisch and Dr. Ivan Galkin (U of Massachusetts Lowell), United States. This Project have over 97 stations around the world on all continents (see figure below).

Data Access through GIRO Web Portal (http://giro.uml.edu/) with Open Data policy and
Rules of the Road.

More details about the new project can be found on the ISWI site (this site) (look in "Projects" tab)

From the year 2015 until now, four new projects have joined the ISWI (AFINSA, GIFDS, LISN and RI). One project (ULF-VLF network/Israel) left ISWI.

Thus, by the end of 2017 ISWI had 19 instrumental projects and one educational (Centres for Space Science and Technology Education CSSTE) project.

More details about all 19 projects can be found on the ISWI site (this site).

Send by Mitko Danov

[4] Report on "2nd International School on Equatorial and Low Latitude Ionosphere" (ISELLI) Nigeria, 11÷15 September 2017

This 2nd international school on the equatorial and low-latitude ionosphere is a follow up to the highly successful first edition, which was held in Abuja, Nigeria, September 2015. ISELLI-2 is aimed at capacity building of young researchers and graduate-course students in ionospheric and space weather Physics.

The School was co-organized by the Centre for Atmospheric Research, National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria; JSPS core-to-core program B. Asia-Africa Science Platforms, Japan; Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR), Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University, Japan; International Center for Space Weather Science and Education, Kyushu University, Japan; Inter-university Upper atmosphere Global Observation NETwork (IUGONET), Japan; Project for Solar-Terrestrial Environment Prediction (PSTEP), MEXT, Japan; The Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP); and Covenant University, Canaan Land, Ota, Nigeria.

Read the entire report:  

Send by Babatunde Rabiu

[5] IGRGEA LETTER, Number 59 Dec 2017

At the end of the IEEY (International Equatorial Electrojet Year), in 1995, IGRGEA (International Geophysical Research Group Europe Africa) was organized to follow the research work initiated during IEEY, in 1992.

Since January 2003 IGRGEA has been established at the Institute of Geophysics in Hanoi, Vietnam. The last letter, No. 58, was dated June 2017.

Read the IGRGEA LETTER:  

Send by Christine Amory

[6] Extension of deadline for manuscripts; UN/US ISWI workshop, Boston, July 31÷Aug 4, 2017

Dear ISWI Community:

As announced in the Vol. 9 No. 13 issue of the ISWI Newsletter (published on October 21, 2017, see V09_N13.html), the ISWI community is invited to submit contributing articles to a special issue of the Sun and Geosphere (http://www.sungeosphere.org/) that is scheduled to be published in August 2018. The special issue will cover topics discussed in the UN/US ISWI workshop held at Boston College on July 31-August 4, 2017 (https://iswi2017.bc.edu/).

This present message announces that the paper submission deadline has now been extended to March 31, 2018 in order to allow more time for the ISWI community to complete their manuscripts.

[7] Call for Papers "Int'l Conference on Space Weather and Satellite Application, (ICeSSAT),
Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, 7÷8 Aug 2018

WEB: http://icessat.uitm.edu.my/

With greatest pleasure, we announce the 1st International Conference on Space Weather and Satellite Application (ICeSSAT 2018 ) to be held in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia on the on the 7th -9th August 2018.

ICeSSAT 2018 is organized by Center for Satellite Communication (UiTMSAT), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, in conjunction with the deployment of our first cubesat, UiTMSAT-1. The co-organizer of ICeSSAT 2018 is Malaysia’s National Space Agency (ANGKASA).

The objectives of ICeSSAT 2018 are to disseminate knowledge, and to share experiences and expertise in space science and satellite technology in all aspects of applications. It also aims to build network between local and international professionals in this field with related industries.

All accepted papers will be published in IOP Conference Series:

• Earth and Environmental Science
• Material Science and Engineering (MSE)

with high visibility and indexed in, among others, ISI Web of Science (Conference Proceedings Citation Index) and Scopus.

All questions and request for information can be sent to icessat2018[at]gmail.com.

Read the poster:  

Send by Mohamad Huzaimy Jusoh

Attachments:

(1) Message from the Executive Director of ISWI Dr. N. Gopalswamy 1 778KB, one page (click 

(2) M. Abdullah et al. Fostering research aptitude among high school students through space weather competition Advances in Space Research 61 (2018) 478‑486 1 536KB, 9 pages (click )

(3) Report on "2nd International School on Equatorial and Low Latitude Ionosphere" (ISELLI) Nigeria, 11÷15 September 2017 175KB, 15 pages (click )

(4) IGRGEA LETTER, Number 59 Dec 2017 560KB, 4 pages (click )

(5) Poster "Int'l Conference on Space Weather and Satellite Application, (ICeSSAT), Malaysia 352KB, one page (click )

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