Heliosphere News

January 23, 2017


A newsletter devoted to Heliospheric Science.

Editor: Nathan Schwadron (nschwadron at unh.edu)
Co-Editor: Mihir Desai (mdesai at swri.edu)
Co-Editor: Eric Zirnstein (ejz at princeton.edu)
Co-Editor: Merav Opher (mopher at bu.edu)
Co-Editor: Adele Corona (icnsmeetings at gmail.com)
Co-Editor: Nikolai Pogorelov (np0002 at uah.edu)

Web site editor: Ken Fairchild (Ken.Fairchild at unh.edu)

If you are interested in being added to the list, being removed from the
list, or posting an announcement, please send information to Nathan,
Mihir, Eric, Merav, Adele, or Nick. Posts are limited to ascii text.
Newsletters are archived on the following website:


******************
Announcements
******************

1. New SPA Editors for GRL

2. POLONEZ Funding Program

3. MEETING: 16th Annual International Astrophysics Conference, March
6-10, 2017, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

4. MEETING: Space Weather of the Heliosphere: Processes and Forecasts
IAU Symposium 335 - July 17-21, 2017 - University of Exeter, UK

5. MEETING: GOOD HOPE FOR EARTH SCIENCES: IAPSO-IAMAS-IAGA

6. MEETING: 7th Solar Orbiter Workshop: Exploring the Solar Environs,
April 3-6, 2017, Granada, Spain

7. MEETING: 12th International Conference on Numerical Modeling of Space
Plasma Flows (ASTRONUM-2017), Saint Malo, France, 26–30 June, 2017

8. JOB OPENING: Applications are invited for two PhD positions (Early
Stage Researchers, ESR) at the Politecnico di Torino

9. The Department of Physics at the University of New Hampshire is accepting applications (http://physics.unh.edu/content/graduate-program) to its MS and PhD programs for the Fall 2017 

10. The Department of Space Science at the University of Alabama in
Huntsville is accepting applications to its MS and PhD programs for the
Fall 2017 semester. 

******************

1. New SPA Editors for GRL

From: Bill.Peterson (Bill.Peterson at lasp.colorado.edu)

Bill Peterson and Benoit Lavraud have completed their terms as SPA editors for Geophysical Research Letters

Andrew Yau and Merav Opher have replaced them effective January 1, 2017.

******************
2. POLONEZ is a funding program addressed to incoming researchers who
may apply for 12- or 24-month fellowships in host institutions in
Poland.

Applicant: a researcher with a PhD degree or at least four years of
full-time equivalent research experience who has not resided or carried
out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Poland for more than 12
months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call announcement
Fellowship duration: 12 or 24 months
Researcher receives:

1. Salary (incl. mobility allowance): $ 4,350 gross/month (full time
contract),
2. Family allowance: $ 300 gross/month (for fellows whose families stay
in Poland for at least 3 months),
3. Research grant,
4. Opportunity to participate in research and non-research training
programmes organised by the NCN.

Host Institution receives overheads at a rate of 20%.
Proposals must be submitted in English via OSF submission system.
More information on the website

***************

3.  MEETING: 16th Annual International Astrophysics Conference, March
6-10, 2017, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA - **Fourth Announcement -
Deadlines**

From: Gary P. Zank, garyp.zank@gmail.com

FOURTH ANNOUNCEMENT: The 16th Annual International Astrophysics
Conference will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the La Posada de
Santa Fe Hotel from March 6–10, 2017. (Welcome Reception and Evening
Registration begins Sunday, March 5).

REGISTRATION DEADLINES:

 Standard Registration fee: $475 USD beginning Jan 1, 2017
Late and Onsite registration is $500 USD beginning March 1, 2017.

ABSTRACT DEADLINE:

Abstract Submission Deadline is February 15.

HOTEL INFORMATION:

PLEASE DO NOT WAIT TO BOOK YOUR HOTEL RESERVATION! The La Posada has
already informed us that they will sell out during the conference
period. This means once our group block is full, there will be no more
group rate rooms available and you will need to seek a room on your own
elsewhere.

Deadline to book hotel rooms is February 5th OR until sold out,
WHICHEVER COMES FIRST and is on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis. No
payment is due now and you will have 3 days prior to your arrival date
to cancel your reservations without penalty so you have nothing to lose!

The meeting entitled, “Turbulence, Structures, and Particle Acceleration
throughout the Heliosphere and Beyond”, will follow the same format as
before with 25-minute presentations punctuated by selected 40-minute
invited talks that will explore various themes in greater detail.

The remarkable ability of nature to accelerate charged particles to
extraordinarily high energies remains, after 100 years, one of the
outstanding puzzles of solar and astrophysical plasmas. Diffusive shock
acceleration (DSA) is thought to energize charged particles at shock
waves. Steady state DSA predictions include the particle intensity
peaking at the shock, after which it is constant, and that the
accelerated particle distribution is a power law with an index depending
only on the shock compression ratio. DSA predictions are often but not
always met. The anomalous cosmic ray spectrum was observed to peak
behind the heliospheric termination shock and to possess a spectrum far
harder than predicted by classical DSA theory. This is frequently true
of shocks in the inner heliosphere and in astrophysical settings. Shocks
are effective in generating magnetic turbulence and structures
downstream and amplifying pre-existing turbulence, all factors in the
further energization of charged particles. Furthermore, certain regions
such as the heliospheric current sheet naturally produce complex
turbulent environments in which numerous structures are present. Not
surprisingly, in these regions observed energetic particle events,
sometimes called anomalous solar energetic particle events, have
characteristics quite unlike those predicted of typical impulsive or
gradual solar energetic particle events. The purpose of this meeting is
to explore the role of turbulence and structures (including magnetic
reconnection-related processes, shock waves, etc), in the acceleration
of particles throughout the heliosphere and beyond.  The meeting will
include current and past observations from spacecraft in the inner
heliosphere, the distant heliosphere and very local interstellar medium,
expectations and predictions for missions such as Solar Orbiter and
Solar Probe Plus, and of course remote observations.

Please go to the conference website for more information. 


E-mail inquiries about the meeting should be directed to Gary Zank at
*******************

4. MEETING: Space Weather of the Heliosphere: Processes and Forecasts
IAU Symposium 335 - July 17-21, 2017 - University of Exeter, UK

Space weather is increasingly recognised as an international challenge
faced by several communities. The ability to understand, monitor and
forecast the space weather of the Earth and the heliosphere is of
paramount importance for our high-technology society and for the current
rapid developments in knowledge and exploration within our Solar System.

The symposium is planned over 5 days from Monday through Friday
(including half-day excursion on the Wednesday afternoon). Key Topics of
the scientific program are the following: 
Solar drivers and activity levels; Solar wind and heliosphere; Impact of
solar wind, structures and radiation on and within terrestrial and
planetary environments (including magnetospheres, ionospheres and
atmospheres); Long-term trends and predictions for space weather;
Challenges and strategy plans for Earth and the heliosphere; Forecasting
models; Space weather monitoring, instrumentation, data and services. 
The Symposium aims to further knowledge on space weather by linking
various aspects of research in solar, heliospheric and planetary
physics, and by putting great emphasis on cross-disciplinary
developments, merging different communities, learning from
interplanetary comparisons and linking to atmospheric and meteorological
research for the first time at the international level. 

*******************
5. MEETING: GOOD HOPE FOR EARTH SCIENCES: IAPSO-IAMAS-IAGA

The Local Organizing Committee is thrilled to welcome you to the 2017
Joint IAPSO-IAMAS-IAGA Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa. The Joint
Assembly, endorsed by the University of Cape Town and the South African
Department of Science and Technology, will take place from 27 August to
1 September 2017 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre
(CTICC). 
IAGA Lead Sessions

JA 1
SPACE WEATHER FROM SUN TO EARTH: BRINGING DATA AND MODELS TOGETHER
(IAGA, IAMAS)
Convenor - Sarah Gibson

JA 2
THE REFERENCING OF GEOPHYSICAL DATA PRODUCTS: THE ROLE OF DOIs (IAGA,
IAMAS, IAPSO)
Convenor - Masahito Nose

JA 3
FRONTIER CHALLENGES IN DATA ASSIMILATION AND ENSEMBLE FORECASTING FOR
THE ATMOSPHERE, OCEAN AND SOLID EARTH. (IAGA, IAMAS, IAPSO)
Convenor - Weijia Kuang, Craig Bishop

JA 4
SOLAR RELATED VARIABILITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE (IAGA, IAMAS)
Convenor - Christoph Jacobi

Early Bird Deadline: 5 May 2017
Online Registration Closes: 22 August 2017


*******************
6. MEETING: 7th Solar Orbiter Workshop: Exploring the Solar Environs,
April 3-6, 2017, Granada, Spain

EXPLORING THE SOLAR ENVIRONS


Rationale:The Solar Orbiter mission will bring the community an
excellent opportunity for doing unique science that embraces most solar
topics from the interior up to the heliosphere employing novel vantage
points. The combined use of results from its four in-situ and six
remote-sensing instruments will provide an unprecedented view of the Sun
and the interplanetary medium. Aimed at discussing most of these topics,
the 7th Solar Orbiter Workshop entitled “Exploring the solar environs”
will be held in Granada, Spain, from the 3rd through the 6th of April,
2017. Overviews, prospects, and new science about the solar interior,
the photospheric structure, dynamics, and magnetic fields, the
chromosphere, the corona, the solar wind, and the heliospheric magnetic
fields and particles are scheduled. Synergies with other missions and
ground-based observatories will also be covered. Theoreticians,
observers, and instrumentalist astronomers are encouraged to attend. 


*******************
7. MEETING: ASTRONUM 2017 - the 12th International Conference on
Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows, Saint Malo, France, 26–30
June, 2017.

Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research at the University of
Alabama in Huntsville and Maison de la Simulation (CEA/CNRS/UPS/UVSQ),
France will organize ASTRONUM-2017. The conference will cover the
following topics:

(1) Advanced numerical methods for space, astrophysical and geophysical
flows;
(2) Large-scale fluid-based, kinetic, and hybrid simulations;
(3) Turbulence and cosmic ray transport;
(4) Magnetohydrodynamics
(5) Software packages for modeling and analyzing plasma
flows /Visualisation
with the application to
(1) Physics of the Sun-Heliosphere-Magnetosphere;
(2) Interstellar medium and star formation;
(3) Cosmology and galaxy formation;
(4) Dynamo effect;
(5) Stellar Physics.

The purpose of the conference is to bring together leading experts in
applied mathematics, space physics, astrophysics, and geophysics to
discuss the application of novel numerical algorithms and petascale
parallelization strategies to computationally challenging problems. 

The conference will be structured around invited, 40-minute keynote and
25-minute regular talks, and a limited number of contributed talks, with
the attempt to have no parallel sessions. The conference web site will
be established in a few days and provide the information about the
conference venue, registration, and means of transportation. E-mail
inquiries about the meeting should be directed to

Program Committee: Tahar Amari (CNRS Ecole Polytechnique), Edouard Audit
(CEA, Maison de la Simulation, co-chair), Amitava Bhattacharjee
(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory), Phillip Colella (Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory), Anthony Mezzacappa (University of
Tennessee, Knoxville),  Nikolai Pogorelov (University of Alabama in
Huntsville, chair), Kazunari Shibata (Kyoto University), James Stone
(Princeton University), Jon Linker (Predictive Science Inc.), and Gary
P. Zank (University of Alabama in Huntsville).*******************

*******************
8. JOB OPENING: Applications are invited for two PhD positions (Early
Stage Researchers, ESR) at the Politecnico di Torino.

Applications are invited for two PhD positions ("Early Stage
Researchers", ESR) at the Politecnico di Torino, funded by the
Marie-Sklodowska- Curie Innovative Training Network COMPLETE -
Cloud-MicroPhysics-Turbulence-Telemetry: an inter-multidisciplinary
training network for enhancing the understanding and modeling of
atmospheric clouds within the Horizon 2020 Program of the European
Commission. The objectives are the numerical analysis of the transport
of energy, water vapor and droplets across the warm cloud/clear air
interface, the Lagrangian analysis of water droplets (1 - 100
micrometre) in suspension, the analysis of the data produced by
innovative expendable radio-probes released in warm clouds and their
comparison with numerical simulations. 

Contact persons:

Prof. Daniela Tordella, Department of Applied Science and Technology |
Politecnico di Torino 10129 Torino Italy, Tel (+39) 011 090 6812|,
daniela.tordella at polito.it; complete-network at polito.it

Dr. Michele Iovieno, Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering |
Politecnico di Torino 10129 Torino Italy Tel (+39) 011 090 6853,|
michele.iovieno at polito.it ;complete-network at polito.it

9. The Department of Physics at the University of New Hampshire is accepting applications (http://physics.unh.edu/content/graduate-program) to its MS and PhD programs for the Fall 2017 semester. We have a number of graduate research fellowships to award to incoming students. The Department of Physics is linked to the Space Science Center (SSC), part of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space.   Faculty and students are members of the Department of Physics (http://physics.unh.edu) with a graduate degree program specializing in Space Physics/Astrophysics .The Space Science Center fosters research and graduate education in all of the space sciences with studies ranging from the ionosphere to the Earth's magnetosphere, the local solar system, and out to the farthest reaches of the universe. Investigations of the Earth's environment in the solar system look at space as a laboratory for plasma physics. We conduct theoretical, computational, data analysis, and instrument development projects focused on the solar-terrestrial radiation environment involving both satellite and suborbital missions. High energy astrophysics investigations involve the sensing of energetic astrophysical objects with ground, balloon, and satellite detectors. Satellites from NASA missions are still providing data for ongoing analysis. Students have opportunities to participate in recent missions that are carrying SSC-associated instruments including STEREO (launched 2006), IBEX (launched 2008), LRO (launched 2009), Van Allen Probes (launched 2012), Firebird (launched in Dec. 2013),  MMS (launched in 2015), FIREBIRD II (launched in 2015), and GOES-R (launched in 2016). Upcoming missions in which the SSC is involved include Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe. The SSC is also a Center of Excellence in theoretical Solar-terrestrial research.


10. The Department of Space Science at the University of Alabama in
Huntsville is accepting applications to its MS and PhD programs for the
Fall 2017 semester. We have a number of GRA fellowships to award
incoming students, which provide tuition and a competitive stipend, and
allow motivated students to begin working on a research project from
the day they arrive on campus. We are a small research-focused
department that aims to produce proficient and self-reliant scientists
through our MS and PhD programs. Students have the opportunity to not
only work with our world-renowned faculty, but also with adjunct
faculty from the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research and
NASA’s Marshal Space Flight Center. Scientists from both centers share
office space on the UAH campus with faculty from the department. Our
research projects cover topics including: the Sun, solar atmosphere,
inner heliosphere and space weather, the solar wind and its interaction
with the interstellar medium, solar energetic particles and cosmic
rays, high energy astrophysics. Our students graduate with a broad
range of professional scientific skills including: analytic methods for
solving physics problems, computational physics, data analysis,
presentation of scientific ideas in both written and oral formats. UAH
is an anchor tenant of the second largest research park in the country,
in a city with a rich history of space science that dates back to
Wernher von Braun and the birth of the US space program.

http://www.uah.edu/science/departments/space-science



______________________
Merav Opher
Associate Professor, Dept. of Astronomy
Director of Graduate Studies
Director of the REU Program
Boston University
725 Commonwealth Avenue,
Boston MA 02215
PHONE: (617) 358-6385
FAX:   (617) 353-5704