UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors August 15th 2008 o News, Views and Gossip o Delay in Selection Announcement for FOSO. o New RHESSI Science Nugget - "Are stellar flares like solar flares?" o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o STEREO-3/SOHO-22 Workshop: Three Eyes on the Sun - Multi-spacecraft studies of the corona and impacts on the heliosphere. o SPD Meeting June 14-18, 2009 in Boulder, CO o IHY-AGU Chapman Conference on Universal Heliophysical Processes o AGU session SH08: "Between photosphere and corona; new views of a critical interface" o Solar Activity During the Onset of Solar Cycle 24. o Solar Image Processing Workshop IV - Algorithm comparison and effective implementation. o Employment Opportunities o Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Coronal Waves and Oscillations, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, UK o Job Opportunity at NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, Boulder, Colorado o Calibration and Archive Scientist - Imperial College Dear Colleague, Here are a few items which have come to our attention since the last Newsletter. You can find this newsletter also at the UKSP website: http://www.uksolphys.org Lyndsay (lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk) Duncan (duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk) ********************************************************************* * * * News, Views and Gossip * * * ********************************************************************* From : madhulika guhathakurta Delay in Selection Announcement for FOSO NASA and ESA discussed the Solar Orbiter mission at their bilateral meeting in July 2008. Based on these discussions, NASA intends to announce in late summer the decisions on proposals submitted to the Focused Opportunity for Solar Orbiter (Amendment 1 of the SMEX AO, NNH07ZDA003O). NASA will update the proposers through another email should it not be possible to announce decisions before the first week of September. Should you have any questions, please contact Lika Guhathakurta, FOSO Program Scientist. ************************************ From: Steven Christe Announcing a new RHESSI Science Nugget "Are stellar flares like solar flares?" by Hugh Hudson and Beate Stelzer In this nugget, we explore an extrasolar flare (aka stellar flare). These stellar and solar flares are similar but it is often in subtle differences that we may learn the most. It can be found on http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/nuggets/ We publish these at roughly two week intervals. Please send any questions regarding the RHESSI science nuggets to rhessi.nuggets@gmail.com or directly to the nugget authors (simply click the authors name when reading the nugget). S. Christe H. Hudson ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: "Harrison, RA (Richard)" FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT STEREO-3/SOHO-22 Workshop: Three Eyes on the Sun - Multi-spacecraft studies of the corona and impacts on the heliosphere Date: April 27 - May 1 2009 Location: The De Vere Royal Bath Hotel, Bournemouth, Dorset, England The hugely successful SOHO Workshops are being combined with the up-coming international STEREO Workshops next Spring with the first STEREO/SOHO Workshop, to be hosted by the UK in the week of April 27 2009. This combined workshop promises to be a major celebration of the continuing scientific achievements of these two missions. The scientific structure of the meeting is yet to be confirmed but the STEREO/SOHO combination leads to a natural focus on issues such as: - Multi-spacecraft studies of solar phenomena - 3D imaging of the corona and solar ejecta - combined in-situ and remote sensing studies of solar ejecta and the heliosphere - Tracking ejecta from the Sun to Earth, and Solar System impacts of solar ejecta - Linking the Heliosphere to the Sun The meeting is to be held at the De Vere Royal Bath Hotel, Bournemouth, England, and is formally hosted by the Solar Group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory - the PI institute for the two HI instruments aboard STEREO and the CDS instrument aboard SOHO. The hotel offers superb accommodation and meeting facilities - it is described as a grand Victorian hotel with panoramic views across the Channel. It is located on the cliff top overlooking Bournemouth beach, right in the heart of this seaside resort. There are many facilities nearby, including a range of hotels and restaurants to suit every budget. Naturally, we are planning an excursion to Stonehenge as part of the meeting - that has to be a major target for such a large group of solar physicists meeting in southern England! The Scientific Organising Committee includes the following: Richard Harrison (Chair, RAL), Mike Kaiser (NASA STEREO Project Scientist), Bernhard Fleck (ESA SOHO Project Scientist), Frederic Auchere (Orsay), David Berghmans (Brussels), Chris Davis (RAL), Andrzej Fludra (RAL), Berndt Heber (Kiel)*, Bernd Inhester (Lindau)*, Janet Luhmann (Berkeley), Simon Plunkett (NRL), Giannina Poletto (Arcetri), Mark Popecki (New Hampshire), Chris St Cyr (NASA GSFC), Dave Webb (Hanscom AFB) [* To be confirmed] The Local Organising Committee consists of the local SOHO and STEREO team and STFC/RAL staff, including: Danielle Bewsher, Chris Davis, Richard Harrison (Chair), Jenny Dallimore, Natalie Bealing, Sarah Smart So, please make a note in your diary and look out for the second announcement which will be sent out in the Autumn. Meanwhile, for your interest, some useful links for the meeting: - The De Vere Royal Bath Hotel - http://www.devere-hotels.com/our-hotels/royal-bath/the-hotel. - The local area - Bournemouth http://www.bournemouth.co.uk/, Stonehenge http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.16465, the New Forest http://www.thenewforest.co.uk/) and Poole Harbour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poole_Harbour. We look forward to welcoming you to the Royal Bath hotel. On behalf of the organising committee. Richard Professor Richard A Harrison ********************************************* From : Don Hassler SPD Meeting June 14-18, 2009 in Boulder, CO Dear Members of the Solar Physics Community, We are happy to announce that next year's Solar Physics Division meeting will be held June 14-18, 2009 in Boulder, CO. Please reserve this date and stay tuned for future announcements. Sincerely, Don Hassler, LOC Chair ********************************************* From : Nancy Crooker IHY-AGU Chapman Conference on Universal Heliophysical Processes Where: Mulberry Inn, Savannah, Georgia (USA) When: 10-14 November 2008 Why: To foster the IHY science theme of establishing physical laws that govern magnetically organized matter and its interaction with gravitationally organized matter, independent of location and initial conditions Format: Focus will be on extended discussion following a limited number of invited papers; contributed papers will be poster papers Abstract submission and pre-registration now open at the conference website: http://www.agu.org/meetings/chapman/2008/gcall Deadline: 12 September Conveners Nancy Crooker, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Marina Galand, Imperial College, London, UK Program Committee Terry Forbes, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA Joe Giacalone, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA Wing Ip, National Central University, Jhongli City, Taiwan Chris Owen , University College London, Surrey, England, UK George Siscoe, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Roger Smith, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA Jan-Erik Wahlund, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden Gary Zank, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, USA ********************************************** From : Karel Schrijver AGU session SH08: "Between photosphere and corona; new views of a critical interface" The domain between the solar surface and corona presents a challenging interface region in which steep gradients in density, pressure, plasma beta, and transparency lead to a complex, dynamic structure. This is the domain where all but a few percent of the Sun's non-radiative energy is transformed into heat and radiation, through which coronal and heliospheric plasma and magnetic field are filtered as they rise from below, and in which much more energy and mass are processed than in the overlying corona and heliosphere combined. Our ability to study this important domain in the solar atmosphere has seen dramatic advances in just a few years, both in the observational and numerical arenas. Please join us in this session, which brings together observers and modelers to discuss the recent advances in our understanding of this domain of contrasts, and to look forward to future developments. The abstract deadline is September 10, 2008, 23:59UT. The meeting is scheduled for 15-19 December, 2008, in San Francisco: http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/ ********************************************** From : Hugh Hudson Solar Activity During the Onset of Solar Cycle 24 This is the second announcement of an international conference entitled "Solar Activity During the Onset of Solar Cycle 24," a workshop-style meeting in Napa Valley, California, the week of December 7-12, 2008. The main goals are to assess our current knowledge of solar activity and to prepare for observations during the onset of Carrington Cycle 24. There will be special emphasis on coordinating ACE, Hinode, RHESSI, SOHO, STEREO TRACE/SDO, and Wind observations, among other space- and ground-based observatories. The conference will have a mixture of invited and contributed talks in plenary sessions, plus significant time devoted to focused working groups in the SHINE style: (a) Slow wind and active regions, (b) Fast wind and plumes, (c) Magnetic field evolution, (d) Global flare energetics, (e) Flares, (f) CMEs, (g) Microflares and nanoflares, (h) Chromosphere, (i) Active-region loops, and (j) Filaments and Prominences. Please mark your calendars now and see the conference Web pages at http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu:80/RHESSI/napa2008 where "manifestos" of the different working groups can be found. We encourage early sign-up for specific working groups along with brief descriptions of topics of interest (or abstracts for talks or posters) so that we can establish key topics and develop a detailed program. We ask for this input by 29 August. The early-bird registration ends October 27, but early registration and hotel booking is encouraged because of space limitations at the conference site. Important dates: Earlybird Abstracts: 29 August 2008 Earlybird registration: 27 October 2008 Registration: 10 November 2008 Meeting: 7-12 December 2008 ********************************************** From : Jack Ireland Second Announcement Solar Image Processing Workshop IV - Algorithm comparison and effective implementation Dates: October 26 - 30, 2008 Location: Pier 5 Hotel, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD, USA Web: http://www.sipwork.org/?q=meetings/sipworkiv Dear All, Registration, abstract submission and hotel booking is now open for the fourth Solar Image Processing Workshop. Please go to http://www.sipwork.org/?q=meetings/sipworkiv for complete details and forms. We invite members of the community to present their solar image processing algorithms and to compare their results. We will also discuss the implementation of existing algorithms as reliable and robust tools usable by the community. Suggestions for oral sessions are also welcome (talks on image processing methods, software, visualization tools, SDO and STEREO are solicited). A poster session will run continuously through the meeting. The meeting will also be relatively small, with a maximum of 85 participants. Very limited funding is available to help students attend this meeting - please contact us for more details. As in previous workshops, the meeting will be relatively short (3.25days), with conference talks taking up the first half of each day, and more targeted Working Groups (WG) in the afternoons. Four working groups are planned, and are outlined below (as in previous years, there is some flexibility in the working group topics, dependent on the contributions received and any comments passed to us by the community). All groups will discuss algorithm implementation and what derived quantities should be made available online to the community. WG1: Eruptive Events This group will study aspects of the detection and classification of all parts of eruptive events such as prominences, filaments, filament channels, eruptions, CMEs and coronal cavities. WG2: Solar Disk Features This group will compare algorithms for the automated detection and classification of features on the solar disk such as coronal holes, active regions, sunspots, flares and quiet Sun. WG3: Oscillations in the solar corona This group will compare algorithms for the automated detection and classification of coronal oscillations on loops and EIT waves. WG4: Solar Physics from multiple viewpoints This group will discuss progress in STEREO 3d reconstruction problems on features such as loops and coronal mass ejections in the COR and HI instruments. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you in Baltimore! Jack Ireland (SOC, Chair) Jack.Ireland@nasa.gov C. A. Young (LOC, Chair) c.alex.young@nasa.gov *********************************************************************** * * * Positions Vacant * * * *********************************************************************** From: "Nakariakov, Valery" Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Coronal Waves and Oscillations Department of Physics, University of Warwick, UK There is a vacancy for a postdoctoral research position (for 3 years) within the Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics (CFSA) at the University of Warwick. This post is supported by an STFC Rolling Grant. You will work on the theoretical and observational study of MHD wave and oscillations in the solar corona. The project comprises the analysis of data obtained with space-borne telescopes including Hinode, TRACE, SOHO and RHESSI, and future missions, and ground-based observational facilities, including NoRH, the observational determination of parameters of coronal waves and oscillations, analytical and numerical modelling of these phenomena, and coronal seismology. You will ideally have knowledge of plasma physics including MHD, and experience in solar data analysis and astrophysical applications. You will have a PhD in a relevant discipline. Informal enquiries: Professor Valery M. Nakariakov (V.Nakariakov@warwick.ac.uk) Further details may be found on www.warwick.ac.uk/go/cfsa/ Details of the application procedure can be found here: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/personnel/jobsintro/apply/procedure. Please quote job vacancy reference number 53241-078. An application form must be completed if you wish to be considered for this post. The closing date/time for applications is midnight (British time) at the end of Friday 19 September 2008. The university values diversity. ********************************************** From : Ron Zwickl Job Opportunity at NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, Boulder, Colorado If you are looking for a challenging, intellectually stimulating job involving the frontier science of space weather and its practical application, we have the job for you. The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is seeking an energetic professional to fill an entry level position as a Space Weather Forecaster (ZP2, salary level 39,376-68,954 USD). Headquartered in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) provides the Nation's official Space Weather Services to meet growing user demands for space weather information. SWPC continually monitors and forecasts space weather; provides accurate, reliable, and useful solar-terrestrial information; conducts and leads researchand development programs; and, transitions promising models and techniques into operational products to improve space weather services. See http://swpc.noaa.gov. Key Requirements: U.S. Citizenship; Knowledge of space weather and its impacts and effects on humanity and technology; Ability to work efficiently and accurately, while being reliable, responsible and accountable, in a rotating shift schedule Career Growth: While this is an entry level job we expect successful candidates to quickly develop the skills to be eligible to move to the next level ( ZP3, salary level 58,274-90,803 USD). The top level achievable for a forecaster is a ZP4 (salary level 83,057-127,590 USD). This is a full time permanent federal government job. Directions for getting to job announcement on USAJOBS Step 1: Go to USAJOBS at http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/ Step 2: On the home page under the title SEARCH JOBS, in the box with the word "what", enter the announcement number for the ZP2 forecaster job : Enter this number if you are a government employee, NWS-NCEP-2008-0117 Enter this number if you are not a government employee, NWS-NCEP-2008-0123 Then click on the SEARCH button to bring up the job summary Step 3: Click on the title to get expanded information about the job Step 4: To apply for the job click on the APPLY ONLINE button. Step 5: Read all directions very carefully, they must be followed or your application may be deemed incomplete and not considered. ******************************************** From: Elizabeth Lucek Space and Atmospheric Physics Group Department of Physics Calibration and Archive Scientist Salary: 25,310 - 36,880 per annum Imperial College is ranked the fifth best university in the world (Times Higher QS World University Rankings 2007). A Calibration and Archive Scientist position is available in the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group within the Department of Physics at Imperial College. The group currently has a major scientific and hardware involvement in world-leading heliospheric, magnetospheric and planetary physics space missions. Further details can be found at http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research/spat. You will join a team of scientists and engineers and take over the co-ordination and development of our magnetic field data calibration capability. This task will encompass two main elements. The first is to continue our work to calibrate data from the four-spacecraft Cluster mission according to currently established procedures. This will involve undertaking a share of routine data calibration but you will also lead further development of the calibration processes in order to prepare data of the best possible quality for the Cluster Active Archive funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). The second task is to lead the development and testing of a generic, automated, optimised calibration software suite, based on the Cluster calibration pipeline, principally in preparation for the ESA Cosmic Visions Cross-Scale mission that will consist of up to 12 spacecraft arranged in a nested tetrahedron formation. You will have experience of at least one programming language and have some experience in data analysis, though not necessarily space based data. Familiarity with the Matlab working environment and programming language would be highly advantageous. Experience with Linux operating systems and a scripting language such as PERL would be desirable. Some experience of preparing documentation would also be useful. You will have a PhD in physics, engineering, or a closely related discipline or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience. The post is available immediately for a period of one year, with a possibility of extension subject to funding. Please direct any questions to Elizabeth Lucek (e.lucek@imperial.ac.uk) or Chris Carr (c.m.carr@imperial.ac.uk). A job description and application form can be found at the following website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/employment/research. Alternatively please contact Mr John Ipe, Tel. 020 7594 7770: e-mail: space.sec@imperial.ac.uk. Completed applications should be sent with a Curriculum Vitae and covering letter to: Mr John Ipe, Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK. Closing Date: 31 August 2008 Valuing diversity and committed to equality of opportunity. ******************************************** _______________________________________________ uksp mailing list uksp@physics.gla.ac.uk http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/uksp