ISWI Newsletter - Vol.6 No.047
01 December 2014

The deadline for registering for "2015 UN/Japan Workshop on Space Weather" has been extended to 07 December 2014. If you would like to attend this workshop, please register before then.

To register, please go here : (website of UN Office for Outer Space Affairs)

Webmaster Notes: For more (deadlines, Objectives, Venue...) (click here)

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

[1] Meeting: Space Weather Services to Build Global Resilience; February 3, 2015, Vienna, during the 52nd session of the STSC. (read it)

[2] The 2nd edition of the Space Weather School in Maghreb; at CRASTE-LF, Rabat, from February 16 to 25, 2015. (read it)

[3] Gigantic sunspot group observed (article from a Japanese newspaper) (read it)

[4] The Permanent Mission of Canada (@Vienna) announces two new expert focus groups:
1. space weather; 2. space and global health (read it)

[1] Meeting: Space Weather Services to Build Global Resilience

What: Workshop on Space Weather Services supporting the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) agenda item on Space Weather

When: Tuesday, February 3, 2015, during the 52nd session of the STSC

Where: Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria

Who: All COPUOS delegates and other technical experts are encouraged to attend. Speakers will include delegates and representatives from international space weather service organizations, to describe national preparedness for space weather, and representatives from international research organizations.

Goal: To foster greater global participation in space weather service activities. This side workshop will provide information on space weather service activities on the national and international levels, and discuss ideas to utilize the STSC Space Weather agenda item to advance global space weather service capabilities.

For more details see the first attached file

(Sent in by S. Gadimova)

[2] The 2nd edition of the Space Weather School in Maghreb at CRASTE-LF
from February 16 to 25, 2015.

Important Dates to keep in mind:
10 December 2014: deadline for inscription
5 January 2015 : Notification of acceptance
20 January 2015: Confirmation of participation

Objectives
The second edition of the Maghreb 2015 ISWI school provides an opportunity for students from the Maghreb and West Africa to improve their level of expertise to enable them to participate and contribute to international projects.

The two key points of the school for scientists from the Maghreb and West Africa are the development of skills:

- To use existing data sets and tools relating to terrestrial environment studies (less than 10% of the existing data are used);

- To use the results of studies based on environmental science and sustainable development and combining ground data with satellite data (example: geophysical studies, telecommunications, etc ...).

For more details see the second attached file

(Sent in by C. Amory of France)

[3] Article Gigantic sunspot group observed

The article is from Yomi Uri Shimbun of Japan, from both the Japanese edition and the English edition of this newspaper.

See third attached file

(Sent in by G.Maeda)

[4] two new expert focus groups

Pursuant to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Note Verbale announcing the fifty-second session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to be held from 2 to 13 February the Permanent Mission of Canada to the International Organizations in Vienna wishes to extend the following invitation to Member State representatives.

In accordance with the agreement reached by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at its fifty-seventh session in 2014,endorsing the establishment of two new expert focus groups to consider issues related to (1) space weather and (2) space and global health under the leadership of Canada; we wish to inform member states that the first meeting for each of these groups is planned to take place on the margins the fifty-second session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and we invite you to indicate your interest in participating.

The objective of each of these meetings is to reach agreement on the mandate,scope and work plan for each of the groups in order to introduce proposals for adoption by the Subcommittee.

* The first meeting of the expert focus group on space weather is planned to take place on the Wednesday, February 4, 2015 (time to be confirmed) under the leadership of Dr.lan Mann of the University of Alberta.

For the rest please view the last attached file

(Sent in by I. Mann)

(1) Information_Sheet Space Weather Services to Build Global Resilience February 3, 2015, Vienna, Austria 531 KB pdf, 3 pages (click )

(2) Flyer School of Space Weather ISWI Maghreb 2015 882 KB pdf, 2 pages (click )

(3) Article Gigantic sunspot group observed from Yomi Uri Shimbun of Japan 831 KB pdf, one page (click )

(4) two new expert focus groups at STSC 577 KB pdf, one page (click )