ISWI Newsletter - Vol.6 No.038
15 July 2014

Dear ISWI Participant:

Apologies for not putting out an issue on 01 July 2014. I had to go to Boston, USA, to help a family member get organized for living there. The next issue will go out on 04 August as I must head north to attend the AOGS conference in Hokkaido. The 01 August issue will go out on 04 August.

Your space weather material (for distribution) is most welcome!

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

[1] United Nations/Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Workshop on the Use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems for Scientific Applications
1-5 December 2014, Trieste, Italy (read it)

[2] Three Space Weather medals of the ESWW conference (read it)

[3] Earth's magneto-tail investigated as an electrical circuit (read it)

[4] Solar Terrestrial Physics papers available online! (read it)

[5] Cabling up the interior of Africa for broadband communications (read it)
and a supplement

[6] United Nations/Austria Symposium on Space Science and the United Nations Graz, Austria, from 22 to 24 September 2014 (read it)

Dear George,

I would be very grateful if the attached announcement of the United Nations/Abdus Salam international Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Workshop on the Use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems for the Scientific Applications, 1- 5 December 2014, Trieste, Italy could be distributed via the ISWI Newsletter at your convenience. I would also like to take this opportunity and invite you and your colleagues to participate in and contribute to the Workshop. Thank you very much for your cooperation in this matter.

Best regards, Shafa

For more information, see first attached pdf.

(Sent in by Sharafat Gadimova)

[2] Subject:
Re: ISWI UN and the Wall of Peace

Dear George,

Would you be so kind to distribute this announcement to the ISWI people, or include it in the newsletter ?

My best regards Jean

In 2013, a set of three medals in Space Weather has been created at the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the European Space Weather Week. These medals are now becoming an annual event, with a medal ceremony during the ESWW conference.

The International Kristian Birkeland medal for Space Weather and Space Climate for outstanding scientific or technological results.

The International Marcel Nicolet medal for Space Weather and Space Climate rewards efforts to structure the space weather community at an international level.

The International Alexander Chizhevsky medal for Space Weather and Space Climate rewards a young researcher (PhD or having defended his thesis within the last 8 years prior to the year of the award, i.e. after October 30th, 2006) for major contributions to space weather research and/or services.

As you may know, Dr. Haubold was awarded with the Marcel Nicolet medal in 2013.

We invite you to propose candidates for any of these medals. It is not allowed to apply for one-self but only for a colleague. Send your documents by email only to SWmedals[at]oma.be. The deadline for the applications is September, 14th 2014.

Please, connect to http://www.stce.be/esww11/medals.php for practical details.

(Sent in by Jean Lilensten)
Editor in Chief of Space Weather and Space Climate
Researcher at : Institut de Planologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG)

[3] The Earth's magnetosphere has profound influences on space weather: Geomagnetic storms born in the magnetosphere have the potential to disrupt satellite and terrestrial communications. The most dynamic part of the magnetosphere is the magnetotail, which appears on the nightside of the Earth and is composed of many different complex structures ....

For the rest, please see second attached pdf

(Sent in by T. Uozumi)

[4] The ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA CONFERENCE SERIES Volume 10 is the PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOLAR TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS (ISSTP) held st the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune, India during November 5-9, 2012.

The volume was edited by N. Gopalswamy, S. S. Hasan, P. B. Rao and Prasad Subramanian. The symposium was held under the aegis of the Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP), which is an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science (ICSU).

SCOSTEP has been tasked with conducting long term scientific programs in Solar Terrestrial Physics. SCOSTEP also promotes Capacity Building activities in the form of International space science schools and public outreach activities. This SCOSTEP symposium was hosted by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. In addition to SCOSTEP and IISER Pune, the Symposium was co-sponsored by the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI), the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, IISER Kolkata, and the TIFR National Center for Radio Astronomy.

The volume contains 4 invited papers and 17 contributed papers.

The papers can be downloaded from the following link: http://astron-soc.in/bulletin/asics_vol010/

(Sent in by Nat Gopalswamy, on behalf of the editors)

[5] This item is an article that appeared recently in THE ECONOMIST. It discusses the difficulties of cabling up Africa for the Internet. But it is an important task as ground-based observation for space weather generally requires the availability of the Internet for a variety of reasons: to get the data, to analyze the data, to share the data, to perform research with the data, and so on.

Did you know
: Much of Africa is sparsely populated: there are
: 60-80 metres of cable per user compared with
: 5 metres per user in Europe. ?

This is from third attached pdf

(Sent in by G. Maeda)

[6] Subject: United Nations/Austria Symposium on "Space Science and the United Nations"

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to inform you that the United Nations/Austria Symposium on "Space Science and the United Nations" is one of the activities of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications in 2014 endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly.

The Symposium, co-sponsored by the Government of Austria, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the European Space Agency (ESA) will be held in Graz, Austria, from 22 to 24 September 2014.

Its primary objectives will be to:

• - Briefly review the history and assess the past accomplishments of the Basic Space Science Initiative under the United Nations Programme on Space Applications as well as relevant past and on-going activities of other United Nations entities;
• - Discuss the future role of space science under the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications and compile a preliminary list of possible actions and activities that could be conducted under the leadership of the United Nations or in cooperation with other relevant entities.

In doing so, the Symposium will reflect where the field of space science is heading and what roles international cooperation and capacity building may be playing. The secondary objectives of the Symposium will therefore be to:

• - Bring together representatives in policy- and decision-making functions of major governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the space science field to present and discuss their relevant activities, in particular contributions to capacity building and international ooperation in space science, including in developing countries;
• - Discuss forthcoming and planned space science related activities in the World and consider the possible opportunities they may offer for capacity building and international space cooperation.

Symposium participants should be involved in policy- and decision-making functions in the planning or implementation of space science activities in international or national space agencies, governmental or non-governmental organizations, research institutions, industry, universities or other academic institutions. The selection of participants will be based on their anticipated contributions to address the objectives and questions laid out in the information note. Applications from qualified female applicants are particularly encouraged. Invited participants will receive a formal invitation letter.

Application forms and the latest information on the Symposium can be obtained from the Symposium webpage at http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/act2014/graz/index.html.

The co-sponsors will provide limited funding support on a competitive basis to qualified applicants to attend the Symposium. The deadline for receiving the applications is 20 July 2014.

If you or your organization is interested in co-sponsoring the Symposium or contributing to its Programme or if you have any other question related to this event, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely, Werner Balogh

(Sent in by Werner Balogh)

Attachments:

(1) INFORMATION NOTE: Workshop on the Use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems for Scientific Applications 1-5 December 2014, Trieste, Italy 97 KB pdf, 5 pages, (click )

(2) JoAnna Wendel Understanding the behavior of charged particles in the magnetotail Eos, Vol. 95, No. 27, 8 July 2014, PAGE 252, American Geophysical Union 667 KB pdf, 2 pages, (click )

(3) The Economist (July 5, 2014) Cabling Africa's Interior 670 KB pdf, 2 pages, (click )