Heliosphere News - Aug 13, 2019

http://heliospherenews.unh.edu/

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: Nick Pogorelov (np0002 at uah.edu)

Coordinator: Liz Wilber (Elizabeth.Wilber at unh.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, or Nick. Posts are limited to ascii text. Newsletters are archived on the following website: http://heliospherenews.unh.edu/.

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

1. MEETING: EPSC-DPS Special Session: Interstellar Probe: science, mission designs, opportunities and challenges, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, 15-20 September 2019

2. MEETING: 5th Edition of the Cosmic Ray Anisotropy Workshop - CR2019, Gran Sasso Science Institute, in L'Aquila, Italy, on October 7-11, 2019

3. MEETING: Mini-conference "Turbulence, Reconnection, Particle Acceleration, and Shocks in Laboratory, Space, and Astrophysical Plasmas" at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society, Division of Plasma Physics, October 21-25, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

4. MEETING: AGU Fall Meeting 9-13 December 2019 in San Francisco, CA

Special Sessions:

3rd Interstellar Probe Special Session

A Quarter Century of Wind observations

The Outer Heliosphere

From IBEX to IMAP: Toward a Leap in Understanding the Physics of the Global Heliosphere

Kappa Distributions and Turbulence: Theory and Applications in space plasmas

5. MEETING: AMS Space Weather Conference & AMS 100th Meeting, 12-16 January, 2020, Boston MA

6. INVITATION: Send SPA Images for AGU Centennial

7. INVITATION: Request for Community Input on Benchmarks for Space Weather

8. INVITATION: to Join the Whole Heliosphere & Planetary Interactions Campaigns

9. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: MS and PhD Funded Graduate Opportunities in Space Physics Available at UAH

10. JOB OPPORTUNITY: Job Opening at the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA

11. SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES: 2019 Fall AGU Student and Early Career Travel Grants and Scholarships

12. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral, Early-Career Staff, and Mid-Career Staff Positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory

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1. MEETING: EPSC-DPS Special Session: Interstellar Probe: science, mission designs, opportunities and challenges, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, 15-20 September 2019

EPSC-DPS Special Session: “Interstellar Probe: science, mission designs, opportunities and challenges”

An Interstellar Probe mission has been discussed since 1960 and studied by multiple groups since then. A new NASA-funded trade study is under way to design a mission concept using available or near-term technology. The cross-disciplinary science targets include exploration of the Very Local Interstellar Medium and its interaction with the heliosphere, characterization of the circum-solar dust disk, exploration of previously unexplored Kuiper Belt Objects, and observation of the extragalactic background light beyond the zodiacal cloud. A vantage point far away from the solar system, naturally enables these observations to be put in the context of other exoplanetary systems and astrospheres. At the same time, Chinese scientists are studying with their space agency CNSA a scenario in which two “Heliospheric Boundary Explorers”. Not only will the synergies between these two missions be particularly valuable, but also both of them will offer unique opportunities for broad international collaborations, including European contributions. This session will welcome reports on the unique science discoveries enabled by missions to the Interstellar Medium beyond heliospheric boundaries and will discuss their design concepts, enabling technologies and programmatic challenges.

Abstract Deadline: 8 May

https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2019/session/34097

Convener: Michel Blanc | Co-conveners: Pontus Brandt, Pascale Ehrenfreund, Kathleen Mandt, Merav Opher, Olivier Witasse

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2. MEETING: 5th Edition of the Cosmic Ray Anisotropy Workshop - CRA 2019

5th edition of the Cosmic Ray Anisotropy Workshop - CRA 2019 that will be hosted at the Gran Sasso Science Institute, in L'Aquila, Italy, on October 7 to 11, 2019.

CRA2019, following the experience of previous editions, will bring together scientists from around the world to discuss the origin, composition, propagation, and modulation of cosmic-rays, with a focus upon the anisotropy on small and large scales, and the effects of interstellar and heliospheric processes on the signal observed at the Earth, including plasma processes.

The program will include invited lectures and contributed talks. As in the past, the workshop is addressed to scientists in the field as well as to PhD and graduate students. We will encourage lively and informal discussions among participants!

To ensure organizational effectiveness we will be allowing maximum 70 registrations. The registration fee of €150 will include the social dinner and coffee breaks during the Workshop.

Should you have any question please do not hesitate to write to us at carmelo.evoli at gssi.it <mailto:carmelo.evoli at gssi.it> or paolo.desiati at icecube.wisc.edu <mailto:paolo.desiati at icecube.wisc.edu>

Here below the important dates of the Workshop:

1 April 2019: open call for abstract.

30 May 2019: call for abstract close.

1 June 2019: early registration open (registration fee 150€).

7 June 2019: confirmation of abstract acceptance.

2 August 2019: early registration close (after this date the registration fee will be 200 €)

1 September 2019: registration close.

7-11 October 2019: Conference

Please find additional information, including the list of invited speakers and logistics at:

https://indico.gssi.it/event/45/

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Program Committee: Stanislav Boldyrev (University of Wiscosin-Madison), Maxim Lyutikov (Purdue), Nikolai Pogorelov (University of Alabama in Huntsville), Dmitri Uzdensky (University of Colorado), and Ming Zhang (Florida Institute of Technology)

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4. MEETING: AGU Fall Meeting 9-13 December 2019 in San Francisco, CA

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Home/0

Abstract Submissions Open

Abstract Deadline July 31, 2019

SPECIAL SESSIONS: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/gateway.cgi

4A. (SH012) 3rd Interstellar Probe Special Session at the Fall AGU

Over the past few years the global community discussion about a pragmatic Interstellar Probe beyond the sphere of the Sun’s influence have intensified, due to the fact that both Voyager 1 and 2 have exited through the heliopause and due to developments in new launch capabilities. Several special sessions at major conferences and dedicated workshops have provided a platform for the community and stakeholders to come together around the timeliness, the remarkable discoveries across the divisions, and the available enabling technologies and mission architectures that would make a launch in the 2030’s, and humanity’s first explicit step in to the galaxy, a reality.

4B. (SH003) A Quarter Century of Wind observations

4C. (SH026) The Outer Heliosphere: Where the Solar Wind, Interstellar Pickup Ions, Suprathermal Particles, and Galactic Cosmic Rays Interact

With the upcoming Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission providing higher resolution Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) maps, New Horizons exploring the outer heliosphere, and Voyager exploring the interstellar medium, it is becoming important to understand how particle populations spanning a wide range of energies interact over large scales throughout the heliosphere. As the solar wind propagates, solar wind structures merge forming larger structures that can become Global Merged Interaction Regions (GMIRs). GMIRs reduce the amount of Galactic Cosmic Rays reaching Earth. As the solar wind propagates encountering more interstellar material, the solar wind heats and slows as interstellar material is ionized and picked up. Interstellar pickup ions and suprathermal tails modify shocks (interplanetary & planetary) and outer heliospheric boundaries. We seek abstracts involving data sets, theory, and simulations that explore how particles with such a wide range of energies interact over large scales connecting the inner and outer heliosphere.

Conveners: Heather A. Elliott, Eberhard Moebius, John D. Richardson, and Merav Opher

Link: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/78505

4D. (SH006) From IBEX to IMAP: Toward a Leap in Understanding the Physics of the Global Heliosphere

Expanding upon the discoveries of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) and previous heliospheric missions, the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), launching in 2024, utilizes an impressive ten-instrument suite to provide a broad range of in situ and remote observations. These instruments characterize phenomena ranging from energetic particle acceleration in interplanetary space to solar wind interactions with the interstellar medium.

Topics within this framework include global heliospheric structure and dynamics; origins of the enigmatic ENA ribbon; particle distributions in the local interstellar medium; and acceleration of pickup ions and energetic particles throughout the heliosphere.

Anticipating the fresh insights expected from IMAP, this session explores the latest advances in these broad-ranging topics; invites observational, theoretical, and modeling contributions that pertain to IBEX, IMAP, ACE, Voyager, and other relevant missions; and addresses the physics of particle acceleration in the heliosphere and beyond.

Primary Convener:

Maher A Dayeh, Southwest Research Institute

Conveners:

Christina Cohen, Caltech

Joe Giacalone, University of Arizona

Colin J Joyce, Princeton University

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/80911

4E. (SH013) Kappa Distributions and Turbulence: Theory and Applications in space plasmas

Classical collisional particle systems residing in thermal equilibrium have their particle velocities stabilized into a Maxwellian distribution; on the contrary, space plasmas are typically collisionless particle systems residing in stationary states characterized by kappa distributions. A breakthrough came with the connection of these distributions with the framework of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. Turbulence, on the other hand, describes the nonlinear dynamics of the magnetic and kinetic fluctuations in space plasmas. Kappa distributions and turbulence affect the dynamics and complexity of similar plasma processes, e.g., particle acceleration, transport theory, plasma heating, plasma waves and instabilities, cosmic rays spectra. Kappa distributions and turbulence have both become increasingly widespread across the physics of space plasma processes and appear in numerous solar, heliospheric, and magnetospheric physics applications. We welcome contributions based on observations and theoretical developments related with the framework of kappa distributions and/or turbulence.

Conveners: George Livadiotis (SwRI), William Matthaeus (Univ. Delaware), Eric Zirnstein (Princeton), Peter Yoon (Univ. Maryland)

Invited Speakers: Nathan Schwadron, Iver Cairns

Link: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm19/prelim.cgi/Session/81350

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5. MEETING: AMS Space Weather Conference & AMS 100th Meeting, 12-16 January, 2020, Boston MA

CALL FOR PAPERS DUE AUGUST 1 2019

The 17th Conference on Space Weather, sponsored by the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and organized by the AMS Committee on Space Weather, will be held 12-16 January 2020, as part of the 100th AMS Annual Meeting in Boston, MA. Preliminary programs, registration, hotel, and general information will be posted on the AMS website as they become available.

https://annual.ametsoc.org/2020/

Please submit your abstract electronically by 1 August 2019:

https://ams.confex.com/ams/2020Annual/webprogrampreliminary/17SPACEWX.html

The Conference on Space Weather solicits papers on the following topics:

I. Ensemble Modeling and Data Assimilation Improving Forecast Accuracy

II. Handling Vulnerabilities and Risks: Power Grids, Aviation, and Communication Networks

III. Heliophysics and Space Weather in History

IV. International and Interdisciplinary Space Weather Initiatives: ICAO and Beyond

V. New Instruments, Platforms and Initiatives for Space Weather

VI. R2O2R : User Needs and Priorities

VII. Rise of the Machines!! Machine Learning and AI for Space Weather

VIII. Space Weather at Other Planets and Solar Systems

IX. Space Weather at Solar Minimum and What's to Come: Solar Cycle 25 Predictions

X. The History of Space Weather Science and Operations

XI. When Forecasts Fail: How We Make Progress

XII. Advances in Research and Modeling of Space Weather Drivers

XIII. Agency Efforts in Space Weather: Priorities and Opportunities

The committee will be providing several small travel grants (~$400) to help defray the cost of attending the AMS meeting for a student who submitted an abstract to present at the Space Weather Conference. Students who wish to apply should contact the program chairs (Richard Behnke or Barbara Thompson) for application instructions. Deadline for student support is October 15, 2019.

For additional information please contact the program chairpersons, Richard Behnke, behnke.richard (at) yahoo.com or Barbara J. Thompson, barbara.j.thompson (at) nasa.gov

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6. INVITATION: Send SPA Images for AGU Centennial

From: Christina M. S. Cohen (cohen at srl.caltech.edu)

Greetings from Your Space Physics & Aeronomy Section Leadership!

This Fall Meeting is also our Centennial, and we are collecting iconic images and graphics that represent progress within our field over the past 100 years. The images and graphics can include results and observations, science history, vision of the future, scientists and engineers in action (instrumentation development and building), rocket spacecraft missions, etc. Some of the images will be displayed at the Centennial theater screen on a rotating basis with images collected from other sections and potentially on other AGU media.

For additional questions or comments about the images, please contact any one of the SPA section leadership members, listed below. Images/graphics along with a short title or brief description may be sent to Christina Cohen (cohen at srl.caltech.edu <mailto:cohen at srl.caltech.edu%3cmailto:cohen at srl.caltech.edu> <mailto:cohen at srl.caltech.edu>).

[https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif]

We look forward to seeing many of you at the Fall Meeting!

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7. INVITATION: Request for Community Input on Benchmarks for Space Weather

From: Michael Wiltberger (mwiltber at nsf.gov)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is sponsoring an effort that seeks to engage the space weather community to develop the next phase of space weather benchmarks. As a point of reference, the U.S. National Science and Technology Council released Phase 1 benchmarks in June 2018. This new NSF-sponsored effort seeks to improve on the Phase 1 Benchmarks and identify opportunities for research efforts that will improve the understanding of extreme space weather, resulting in better benchmarks and preparedness. This effort, supported by NASA and the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute, is being chaired by Geoff Reeves (LANL).

To support this effort, we are requesting input from the space weather community. Your input will help improve the fidelity and utility of space weather benchmarks and support development of a more refined Phase 2 Benchmarks study. This input may also be used to inform Federal research and development R&D priorities. For more information, please see the following link: https://idalink.org/SWxBenchmarks

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8. INVITATION: to Join the Whole Heliosphere & Planetary Interactions Campaigns

It's solar minimum. In the tradition of Whole Sun Month (1996) and Whole Heliosphere Interval (2008), it's time for Whole Heliosphere & Planetary Interactions (2019) - WHPI!

Goal:

A coordinated observing and modeling effort to characterize the three-dimensional interconnected solar-heliospheric-planetary system. By focusing on specific solar rotations near solar minimum, structures and activity can be unambiguously traced throughout the heliosphere and into planetary space environments.

When:

3 target intervals:

Jul 2019 - Solar eclipse

Sep 2019 - Parker Solar Probe at perihelion Dec 2019 - Parker Solar Probe Venus flyby

Who:

Everyone is welcome - it's a grassroots effort. Sign up - we will have telecons and workshops to coordinate analyses. See https://whpi.hao.ucar.edu for further details.

Contact: Sarah Gibson (sgibson at ucar.edu)

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9. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: MS and PhD Funded Graduate Opportunities in Space Physics Available at UAH

The Department of Space Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville has several funded teaching and research Assistantship positions available for motivated students wanting to pursue a PhD in Space Science, starting in the Fall of 2019. We are still accepting applications. We are a research-focused graduate-only department, covering topics in theory, simulation, data analysis, and instrument design in all aspects of space and solar physics. Students can participate in numerous research programs ranging from the physics of the outer atmosphere of the Sun, solar wind, solar energetic particles, turbulence, space weather, the heliosphere, the interstellar medium, gamma-ray bursts, and cosmic rays, for example. The Department collaborates closely with members of the Marshall Space Flight Center's solar physics, gamma ray physics, gravitational wave, energetic particles, and dusty plasma groups, with whom we share a building. More information can be found at our website https://www.uah.edu/science/departments/space-science. Inquiries can be made to spa at uah.edu <mailto:spa at uah.edu> or Prof. Gary P Zank (garyp.zank at gmail.com <mailto:garyp.zank at gmail.com> ), and applications should be made through the UAH graduate school https://www.uah.edu/admissions/graduate/apply-for-admission. Be sure to indicate Space Science on your application.

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10. JOB OPPORTUNITY: Job Opening at the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA

The Department of Space Research of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas seeks candidates for positions at the research scientist or senior research scientist levels in Heliospheric Physics. The selected candidate is expected to lead and support the development and calibration of energetic neutral atom and plasma instruments to be flown on upcoming heliophysics or planetary missions such as the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe or IMAP. The candidate is also expected to publish results in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and present results at scientific meetings, workshops, and conferences. Research will also involve interactions with Institute Staff engaged in a broad range of experimental, observational, and computational research.

Click on the following link for more information about this position.

15-01317 Research Scientist/Sr. Research Scientist - Heliophysics

https://resapp.swri.org/ResApp/Job_Search_Results.aspx?DETAIL=15-01317

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11. SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES: 2019 Fall AGU Student and Early Career Travel Grants and Scholarships

We would like to draw your attention to several Fall AGU Meeting travel and scholarship opportunities for Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) students (high school, undergraduate, graduate) and early career SPA scientists to apply:

1) Fall Meeting General Student Travel Grant (Open 12 June 2019; Close 7 August 2019): The Fall Meeting General Student Travel Grant provides partial travel assistance to student presenters to attend Fall Meeting. Any AGU student member presenting at Fall Meeting may apply, but preference will be given to students from demographic groups who are underrepresented in the sciences.

2) Data Visualization and Storytelling Competition (Open 12 June 2019; Close 4 September 2019): This competition is open to 2 and 4 year undergraduate students and graduate students who are legal U.S. residents. The competition winners will receive travel grants funded by AGU, complimentary registration to the AGU Fall Meeting, and the opportunity to present their data visualization on the NASA Hyperwall. This AGU competition is funded by a generous grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

3) Fall Meeting Berkner Fellowship (Open 12 June 2019; Close 7 August 2019): Early career scientists and students under 35 years of age who are citizens of countries designated by the World Bank as “low” or “lower-middle” income per capita may apply this travel fellowship which covers registration, travel, boarding, and meals for Fall Meeting.

The application links to the above may be found through this webpage:

https://education.agu.org/grants/student-travel-grants-application-requirements/

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12. JOB OPENING: Postdoctoral, Early-Career Staff, and Mid-Career Staff Positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Space Science and Applications (ISR-1) Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory is hiring postdocs and staff scientists at the early- and mid-career level to support our research programs in magnetospheric and heliospheric science and our national security mission focused on space-based verification of the Limited Test Ban Treaty.

Positions are available for candidates with expertise in modeling & simulation, data analysis, and/or instrumentation. We particularly seek strong candidates with expertise in our core research areas including inner magnetospheres, natural and man-made radiation belts, space weather, and plasma, energetic particle, and neutral particle sensors. Candidates are also sought who can contribute to developing topic areas including ionospheric physics and magnetosphere-ionospheric coupling, GICs, EMP, and heliospheric and planetary science.

For the staff scientist positions, candidates are sought who have the flexibility and interest in contributing to both basic science research and our national security mission. Staff scientist positions require the ability to obtain a Q clearance, which normally requires U.S. citizenship.

For the postdoc positions, candidates are expected to contribute to our basic science research. Postdoc positions are open to all citizenships. The ability to obtain a Q clearance, which normally requires U.S. citizenship, is desirable but not required.

Los Alamos has been named a "Top 10" small town to live in, with its abundant outdoor recreation, highly ranked public school system, and available community facilities and activities.

Two-body problem? Maybe we can help! LANL has recently launched an aggressive hiring campaign to meet future staffing needs across many disciplines, including a new system to promote dual-career hires into strategic areas.

Interested candidates should contact Daniel Reisenfeld <dreisenfeld AT lanl.gov> or Vania Jordanova <vania AT lanl.gov>. More about the ISR Division and the ISR-1 group can be found at <space.lanl.gov>. The ISR-1 postdoc and staff scientist (Scientist 2, 3, and 4) job ads can be found by clicking on "Space Science and Applications" on the right menu.

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