UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors February 15th 2010 o News, Views and Gossip o Address Change: James McLaughlin o Sheffield Solar Physicists at Parliament o STFC - call for nomination to Science Board, Committees and Peer Review Panels o New RHESSI Science Nugget o Topical Issue (TI) of Solar Physics --- The Sun--Earth Connection near Solar Minimum: Placing it into Context. o Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH) operation extension o SolarNews Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2010/20100201.txt o The Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Coronal Image Database o New book in Asteroseismology o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o RAS NAM/UKSP/MIST 2010 - second announcement and registration o AOGS 2010 (5-9 July 2010): Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India) o UK MHD Meeting - May 20-21 2010 o BUKS 2010 - St Andrews 9-11 June 2010. o Conference Session "Transient Phenomena and Magnetic Waves in the Sun and Sun-like Stars" at AOGS-2010 during 5-9 July 2010 at Hyderabad, INDIA o 2010 The AGU Meeting of the Americas o UKSP2010 Session on waves, oscillations, and magnetic coupling in the solar atmsophere o SolarNews Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2010/20100201.txt o Call for papers: AOGS2010 session ST10 "Space weather and space climate: coupling processes from the Sun to the Earth" o Call for papers: COSPAR Session D23-E33 "Multi-Spacecraft Observations and Modeling of CMEs and Stream Interaction Regions" o COSPAR SCIENTIFIC COMMISSION E (a message from N. Gehrels) o COSPAR Announcement : Event 22 : New Views of the Sun with SDO o SHINE Workshop 2010 o Special SPD Session on " What Irradiance Studies Tell Us About Solar Heat Transport and Magnetism" o IAU Symposium 273: Physics of Sun and Star Spots o Call for papers, 38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Event E21: The Challenge of the Hidden Scales in Solar Dynamic Phenomena o Employment Opportunities o SolarNews Items of Interest - http://solarnews.nso.edu/2010/20100201.txt o Postdoctoral Position at the Ruhr Universitaet Bochum within the SOLAIRE Network 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: James McLaughlin Dear Colleagues, Please note my change of institution and contact details to: Dr James McLaughlin, Room 101, Pandon Building, School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 8ST james.a.mclaughlin@northumbria.ac.uk http://computing.unn.ac.uk/staff/rnwp2/ ************************************ From: Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen Sheffield Solar Physicists at Parliament It is our pleasure to announce that a bid prepared by Sheffield solar physicists of SWAT/SP2RC (Solar WAve Theory Group, Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre, Sheffield Univ) on the discovery of solar Transition Region Quakes have been selected, by SET for Britain on behalf of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, for presentation (8 March 2010) at the House of Commons Marquee to members of both Houses of Parliament at Westminster. The team involves Eamon Scullion, a joint postgraduate supervised by Profs Gerry Doyle -Armagh Observatory- and Robertus Erdelyi-SWAT/SP2RC and Dr Viktor Fedun (SWAT/SP2RC, SU). ************************************* From: Lyndsay Fletcher STFC - call for nomination to Science Board, Committees and Peer Review Panels Dear all I have been asked by STFC to make you aware that there is currently a call for nominations to their Science Board, Committees and Peer Review Panels. The deadline for this is Monday 22nd March 2010. For full information about the vacancies and the nomination procedure, please see http://www.stfc.ac.uk/About/Strat/Council/AdCom/CallforNoms2010.aspx best wishes Lyndsay ************************************* From: Hugh Hudson hhudson@ssl.berkeley.edu New RHESSI Science Nugget http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/Two_phases_of_X-ray_emission_in_a_solar_eruptive_flare This Nugget asks an important question - can the early non-thermal phase of a solar flare, as found in the RHESSI data, be explained by Somov's "Rainbow Reconnection Model"? ************************************* From: Mario Mark Bisi - Mario.Bisi@aber.ac.uk Topical Issue (TI) of Solar Physics: The Sun--Earth Connection near Solar Minimum: Placing it into Context We solicit manuscripts on this general subject for inclusion in a Topical Issue (TI) of the journal Solar Physics that will be dedicated to the science of the Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) campaign (http://ihy2007.org/WHI/) and results related to WHI's science priorities. The editors request that statements of intent be received from all interested authors by Monday March 1, 2010. The statements should include (as close as possible to the anticipated publication): (i) title, (ii) abstract, (iii) author list, (iv) estimated number of Solar Physics pages, and (v) three suggestions for referees, preferably with E-Mail. Completed papers should be submitted by Friday July 2, 2010, and the estimated publication date will be between December 2010 and February 2011. Manuscripts will appear online as they are accepted, and manuscripts that have not completed the refereeing and revision process by the cutoff for hardcopy publication of the Topical Issue will appear in a subsequent, regular issue of the journal. In order to respect all participants, we will push hard on referees to respect their deadlines and authors for revisions. Criteria for Relevance to the Topic: The Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) is an internationally coordinated observing and modeling effort to characterize the three-dimensional (3D) interconnected solar-heliospheric-planetary system - a.k.a. the "heliophysical" system. WHI observing campaigns began with the 3D solar structure from solar Carrington rotation (CR) 2068, which ran from March 20 - April 16, 2008. See http://ihy2007.org/WHI for more information. This Topical Issue will include scientific results of the observations and the models that are used to interpret the WHI data, including all of the regimes that play a role in solar minimum heliophysics. These regimes include: - sub-photospheric structures, - the solar photosphere, chromosphere, and corona, - the inner and outer heliosphere, - Earth's magnetopause and bow shock, - Earth's radiation belts and plasmasphere, and - The ionosphere, thermosphere and mesosphere. Additionally, we are expecting contributions that are linked to or related to WHI but not necessarily centered on WHI observations themselves. The majority will be additional studies of the present, possibly "unusual", solar minimum, and also how this minimum relates to past minima. However, because of the depth, length, and complexity of the current solar minimum, one solar rotation is not enough to characterize it! We have therefore identified two Carrington rotations that, along with WHI, may be considered to "span" the current extended solar minimum, these are CR2078 (17 Dec 2008 - 12 Jan 2009 when sunspots reached a 13-month minimum) and CR2085 (26 Jun - 22 Jul 2009 when solar-wind parameters were at their lowest, and which had continuous SOHO contact and solar eclipse data/modeling. These rotations provide additional focus time periods that may enable intercomparison between analyses in the Topical Issue. The current-solar-minimum studies need not be limited only to the rotations mentioned here however. In addition, for those who are not already part of the WHI Team and already subscribed to the WHI Mailing list (through which the majority of updates and communications will be made), we invite you and encourage you to do so (please see http://mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/whi). We remind you that the statement of intent (described above) deadline is 1 March 2010; this is essential for us to optimally match manuscripts with referees and to expedite the process. If, subsequent to submission of a statement of intent it appears that the manuscript is not coming together on schedule, please let us know so that we can adjust the attribution of referees. Please E-Mail: whi.sola@gmail.com with your proposed: (i) title; (ii) abstract; (iii) author list; (iv) estimated number of Solar Physics pages; (v) three suggestions for referees; and (vi) name and E-Mail of corresponding author if not submitter! Sincerely, Mario M. Bisi (Mario.Bisi {at} aber.ac.uk) Barbara Emery (emery {at} ucar.edu) Barbara J. Thompson (Barbara.J.Thompson {at} nasa.gov) (Solar Physics TI Guest Editors) and Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi (Lidia.vanDriel {at} obspm.fr) John Leibacher (john.leibacher {at} gmail.com) (Solar Physics Editors) **************************************** From: Valery Nakariakov V.Nakariakov@warwick.ac.uk Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH) operation extension It is officially approved and announced by the NAOJ Director General on Feb 9 that the operation of the Nobeyama Radioheliograph (Japan) is extended to five years, till March 2015. Observations of the Sun with NoRH in the microwave band are intensively used by several UK research groups. ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: Lyndsay Fletcher Dear Colleagues please find below the second announcement and registration information for the RAS NAM/UKSP/MIST meetings. best wishes Lyndsay ------------------------------------------------------ Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/nam2010/ 12th ? 16th April 2010, Glasgow Second Announcement Registration and abstract submission is now open for the 2010 RAS NAM, which will take place on the main Gilmorehill campus of the University of Glasgow, 12th ? 16th April 2010. Deadlines: ======== Earlybird Deadline (reduced registration fee): 16:00 Wed 3rd March Abstract Submission Deadline: 16:00 Wed 3rd March Bank Transfer Payment for Earlybird / Abstract Submission: 16:00 Mon 1st March Hotel rooms held until: Saturday 27th February The NAM2010 web page at http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/nam2010/ lists: ? full details of the scientific and social programme ? instructions for registration and abstract submission ? travel and accommodation information. Scientific programme: ================ The conference will begin at 1pm on Monday 12th April, and will end at 12.30pm on Friday 16th April. There will be a schools event on the afternoon of Friday 16th April, which delegates are also welcome to attend. The scientific programme consists of 14 plenary talks, and 35 parallel sessions. The full list of sessions can be found here: http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/nam2010/prog.php Registration and abstract submission: ========================== The registration/abstract submission page is at http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/nam2010/reg.php Delegates are invited first to register and pay for their registration (and conference dinner if required) before submitting their abstract. Payment can be by: debit card (no fee) or credit card (1.75% fee) through Glasgow University?s secure online payment system, or by bank transfer (BACS). There are separate fees for students and non-students, and a 10% reduction for RAS members. You may pay for the whole week or for individual days. Upon successful registration and payment, you may submit your abstract. NOTE because of the expected high number of delegates (based on previous RAS NAMs), and space/time restrictions, we can at present unfortunately accept only ONE first author/presenting author abstract per registered delegate. Social events: ========== You can sign up for social events at registration. The main social event of the meeting, the conference dinner and ceilidh will take place on Wednesday 14th April, in the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, home to the Fulton Orrery (1832). On the evening of Monday 12th April there will be a Civic welcome reception hosted by the City of Glasgow, in the Glasgow City Chambers on George Square, in Glasgow?s City Centre. The NAM 5-a-side cup football tournament will take place on Tuesday 13th April in the nearby Kelvin Hall Sports Arena. The programme of public events will include three evening talks, and a schools' event on Friday 16th April. There will be a display on Alexander Wilson, and the chance for delegates to view related materials from the University Library?s Special Collection. Accommodation: ============= There are many small hotels and B+Bs close to the University campus, and cheaper hostel options (Eurohostel/YHA). Our web page lists hotels which have agreed to hold rooms for our delegates, until Saturday 27th February. Delegates are required to arrange their own accommodation, and early booking is advised! Travel: ===== The conference venue is linked by bus and subway to the city centre and to the two main train stations in Glasgow: Central (West Coast Main line), and Queen Street (Edinburgh and the East Coast Main line). Transport links from the city centre to Glasgow Airport and Prestwick Airport are fast and frequent. Contacts: ======= Enquiries about any aspect of the conference can be directed to us at nam2010@astro.gla.ac.uk or by telephone to Rachael McLauchlan (Conf. Secretary) at 0141 330 4152 It would be useful if you could help us direct your email enquiry by including in your subject one of the following: "registration help", "abstract submission help", "general enquiry" We look forward to welcoming you to Glasgow! Lyndsay Fletcher and Martin Hendry, on behalf of the NAM LOC and SOC ********************************************* From: Mario Mark Bisi - Mario.Bisi@aber.ac.uk AOGS 2010 (5-9 July 2010): Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India) Session ST 12/18: The Peculiar Solar Minimum between Solar Cycles 23 and 24 and its Heliospheric Consequences The Sun's polar magnetic field strength has significantly diminished during the minimum phase between solar cycles 23 and 24, compared to previous minima in the recent past. This has been observed in the photosphere (e.g., the synoptic observations from the Wilcox Solar observatory), chromosphere (e.g., from the Nobeyama synoptic charts in microwaves), and corona (SOHO EUV synoptic maps). This minimum has been characterized by historically high values of cosmic ray flux and low values of solar irradiance since instrumental observations began. These have had corresponding effects in the heliosphere both at high latitudes (Ulysses observations) and in the ecliptic (Wind and ACE observations). The modified physical state of the interplanetary medium (magnetic field, solar wind plasma) is expected to have significant impact on the transients that propagate through the medium. The subdued solar minimum may also indicate a weak solar cycle 24, or a more extended period of abnormal behavior, which would be governed by the solar dynamo. Unusual behavior is also expected in geospace (e.g., atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere). In order to promote active research to understand the peculiar solar minimum and its consequences, we invite papers dealing with observations, theory, and modeling investigations related to the current solar activity and its consequences. Comparative studies involving the current minimum with other such diminished solar activity periods are also welcome. *Dr. Nat Gopalswamy (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, United States) nat.gopalswamy@nasa.gov Prof. Periasamy K. Manoharan (NCRA, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India), mano@ncra.tifr.res.in Dr. Dibyendu Nandi (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research-Kolkata, India) dnandi@iiserkol.ac.in Dr. Mario Bisi (Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom), Mario.Bisi@aber.ac.uk ********************************************* From: Rainer Hollerbach May 20-21 2010 UK MHD Meeting Dear Colleagues, The 2010 UK MHD meeting will be held at the University of Leeds on May 20-21, organized jointly by the School of Mathematics and the School of Earth and Environment. Further details will follow in due course. For now, please forward this announcement to any new students/postdocs who may not yet be on the email list. And if you want to be sure to be on the list for future announcements, just send me a quick email.. Best wishes, Rainer Hollerbach ********************************************** From: Alan Hood BUKS 2010 Following the very successful initial meeting of BUKS 2009 in Leuven, we are pleased to announce that BUKS 2010 will be held at St Andrews University from 9-11 June 2010. BUKS, standing for Belgium, United Kingdom and Spain, was formed by 6 institutes in those countries who took the initiative to organise open and informal workshops on MHD waves and Seismology of the Solar Atmosphere. The aim of the 2010 workshop is to exchange advanced results on observations, data-analysis, interpretation, modelling and seismology of MHD waves in the solar atmosphere and to discuss current open questions as well as required future research initiatives in this field. All groups and researchers active in this field are warmly welcomed to attend. Further information and registration details can be found at http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~buks2010/ Thanks, Alan ********************************************** > From : Dr. A.K. Srivastava - aks@aries.res.in Conference Session "Transient Phenomena and Magnetic Waves in the Sun and Sun-like Stars" at AOGS-2010 during 5-9 July 2010 at Hyderabad, INDIA A one day session (ST02) entitled "Transient Phenomena and Magnetic Waves in the Sun and Sun-like Stars" will be held in AOGS-2010 during 5-9 July 2010 at Hyderabad, INDIA. The session aims to provide a joint forum for solar and stellar physicists for the discussion of current trends in solar and stellar wave studies and transient phenomena. The session also aims to cover recent observational discoveries, modern data analysis techniques and theoretical modelings, and will also discuss the future prospectives of the observations and modeling of MHD waves and transient phenomena in solar and stellar atmospheres. On behalf of the SOC, we call the contributed papers in our solar physics session (ST02) of AOGS-2010 at Hyderabad, India during 5-9 July 2010. The deadline for the submission of the abstracts of contributed papers is 01st March 2010. Kindly visit the following website for the conference details and important dates : http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2010/ To submit the abstract of your contribution in the session (ST02), kindly proceed via http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2010/mars/login.asp Conveners : Dr. A.K. Srivastava (ARIES, Nainital, INDIA) Prof. V.M. Nakariakov (CFSA, University of Warwick, UK) Prof. M.J. Aschwanden (LMSAL, USA) ********************************************* From: Grigory Vekstein Dear Colleagues: We would like to point your attention to the following session at 2010 The AGU Meeting of the Americas to be held 8-13 August, 2010, Rafain Hotel and Convention Center Av. Ol?mpio Rafagnin, 2357, Foz do Igua?u - PR, 85862-210, Brazil SH08.: Solving the coronal heating riddle: recent developments and future directions. Recent observations provide ample information on the mechanism of solar coronal heating. However, many important details of the underlying physics are still poorly understood. Therefore, the suggested session aims to bring together experts in observation, numerical simulation, and theory in order to provide an overview of the present state of the subject. All contributions relevant to coronal heating are welcome, with particular emphasis on the following: (i) what can be learned about coronal heating from the high-resolution Hinode and SDO data? (ii) What is the status of the nanoflare theory of coronal heating, and what are the observational signatures? (iii) What is the role of MHD and kinetic waves in coronal heating, and how new high resolution and cadence observations can advance this subject? Abstract Submission Deadline: 31 March 2010; 23:59 EDT/3:59+1 GMT * Late submissions after the deadline cannot be accepted. For further details please see http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja10/index.php Sincerely, Leon Ofman (NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, USA) Grigory Vekstein (University of Manchester, UK) (Conveners) ********************************************* From: Istvan Ballai - i.ballai@sheffield.ac.uk UKSP2010 Session on waves, oscillations, and magnetic coupling in the solar atmsophere Dear Colleagues, On behalf of the conveners, I would like to invite you to submit abstracts to session P14 "Magnetic coupling of the solar atmosphere: magneto-seismology of the solar atmosphere" at the annual RAS NAM/UKSP/MIST (Glasgow, 12-16 April 2010). The deadline for early registration and abstract submission is 3 March 2010. Description of the session: High resolution observations (TRACE, HINODE, STEREO, SDO) are revolutionizing our views and understanding of physical processes in the solar atmosphere and the connectivity between various regions and phenomena taking place in the solar atmosphere. The combination of observable properties of waves and oscillations in various magnetic structures with theoretical (including numerical) modelling, allow us the determination, with unprecedented accuracy, of many physical quantities that cannot be measured directly and/or indirectly (magnitude and sub-resolution structuring of magnetic fields, scale-height, density filling factors, transport coefficients, etc.) using seismological techniques. The session aims to review and report on recent advances in the field of magneto-seismology and put individual dynamical/energetic phenomena into a more coherent global view. Convenors: I. Ballai (University of Sheffield) R. Jain (University Sheffield) R. Erdelyi (University of Sheffield) M. Mathioudakis (Queen's University Belfast) -- Dr Duncan H Mackay Mathematical Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, Scotland. Tel 01334 463760 Fax 01334 463748 The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No SC013532 _______________________________________________ uksp mailing list uksp@physics.gla.ac.uk http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/uksp