UK Solar Physics Newsletter Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors March 16th 2009 o News, Views and Gossip o UKSP Business meeting at JENAM. o UKSP Council - new postgraduate representative sought o Congratulations to Roger New of Sheffield Hallam on being promoted to Professor. o RHESSI Science Nugget. o Friends of the RAS o Jan Stenflo receives the Janssen Prize o Meetings, Conferences and Workshops o Solar Observational Data Analysis School, June 1-5 2009. o Robert Cormack Bequest Meeting 2009. o CALL FOR ABSTRACTS TO "Solar and Lower Atmospheric Forcing of the Middle Atmosphere-Ionosphere System". o UK MHD, Coventry University on June 3-4, 2009. o 2009 AAS/SPD meeting o The Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling Summer School 2009 o SOHO-23: Understanding a Peculiar Solar Minimum o Ninth International School for Space Simulations (ISSS-9), 3-10 July 2009, Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, France o Call for Abstracts to AGU Union Session U06 o Young European Radio Astronomers' Conference (YERAC) o Employment Opportunities o PDRA Post at Aberystwyth in Solar System Physics o Permanent Lectureship at Queen Mary University of London 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: Lyndsay Fletcher UKSP Business meeting at JENAM There will be a UKSP business meeting at the JENAM in Hertfordshire at lunchtime on Wednesday 22nd April, approx 12.30-14.00. Please send suggestions for agenda items to Lyndsay Fletcher (lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk). Further details will follow. ******************************************* From: Lyndsay Fletcher UKSP Council - new postgraduate representative sought Candidates are sought for election to a vacancy on the UKSP Council for a postgraduate representative. Candidates should be postgrad students carrying out solar physics or closely-related research at a recognised UK institute and have at least one full year's funding remaining as of April 2009 Please send nominations (comprising name of candidate, name of proposer, contact information, and a short statement from the candidate) to the UKSP Secretary (Duncan Mackay, duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk) by Monday 6th April. The election will take place by electronic ballot shortly after the JENAM meeting. The UKSP Council would like to take the opportunity to thank the outgoing student representative, Nick Owen, for his contribution to the council over the last year. ************************************ From: Bill Chaplin Congratulations to Roger New of Sheffield Hallam on being promoted to the position of Professor. ************************************ From: Steven Christe Announcing a new RHESSI Science Nugget "The Jakimiec Track" by Hugh Hudson and Fabio Reale A recent re-analysis of the relationship between emission measure and temperature in flares stimulates this new nugget. It can be found here http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets We publish these at roughly two week intervals. S. Christe H. Hudson ************************************* From: Ronald Wiltshire You may have noticed that, following the successful launch of our public lecture series, we have launched a new membership scheme, 'Friends of the RAS'. Could I please ask you to bear this in mind when talking to friends, family and others who have an interest, though not necessarily much knowledge of, Astronomy and Geophysics. We all know that , more so than many other branches of science, our subjects appeal, and are accessible, to the general public, and, as a charity, the RAS is required to demonstrate PUBLIC BENEFIT. FRIENDS of the RAS enjoy: * free priority seat reservation at RAS lunch-time lectures * invitations to social events and meetings in Burlington House ( and eventually in other parts of the country) * use of the Society's library * escorted visits to observatories and other places of interest In addition every Friend receives a copy of the RAS 2009 Diary and other RAS publications as well as discounted admission to Herschel House Museum Bath and discounted subscription to "Astronomy & Geophysics". To become a 'Friend' for 2009 all that people need to do is send their name, address, email address and telephone number with a cheque (made out to ?The Royal Astronomical Society?) for £35.00 to the Membership Secretary, Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BQ For further information visit http://friends.ras.org.uk [friends.ras.org.uk] - and, if you would like multiple copies of the 'Friends' leaflet ( possibly for distribution at public events), we would be delighted to let you have them! Please contact Ron Wiltshire ( ronw@ras.org.uk) . Thanks! David Elliott Executive Secretary Royal Astronomical Society Burlington House Piccadilly London W1J 0BQ 020 7734 3307 ************************************* From: Brigitte Schmieder Jan Stenflo receives the Janssen Prize The Janssen Prize, named after astronomer Jules Janssen, founder of the Paris Meudon Observatory, is the highest award of the French Astronomical Society (Societe Astronomique de France). Every second year a non-French astronomer is chosen for this award. All areas of astronomy and astrophysics are considered. In an award ceremony on January 20, 2009, in Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, the 2008 Janssen Prize was presented to Jan Stenflo, Switzerland, for his contributions to solar physics. ********************************************************************* * * * Conferences, Workshops, Meetings * * * ********************************************************************* From: Lyndsay Fletcher 'SODAS' at Glasgow Solar Observational Data Analysis School, June 1-5 2009 This is a one week school on solar observational data analysis and is part of the European Research Training Network SOLAIRE. The school is aimed at PhD students and postdocs with limited or zero prior experience in solar data analysis, who want to improve their knowledge and skills in this area. The goal of the school is to enable students to gain hands-on experience of using data from current space-based and ground-based instrumentation (e.g. Hinode, TRACE, SoHO, RHESSI, Nobeyama). The school's philosophy is to cover (i) the scientific rationale for each kind of measurement (ii) searching and obtaining data (iii) viewing, calibrating and correcting it (iv) generating the science product (intensity, density or temperature measurement etc) and (v) combining different datasets in a multi-wavelength view. There will be a series of topical lectures and complementary analysis exercises, and a mini-project to be completed in a group. Lectures will be given by experts in each of the analysis techniques. The data analysis exercises will be carried out in the widely-used IDL data processing language, using the SolarSoft suite of solar data analysis software. There will be no registration fee charged for the school. It is restricted in number, and will work on a first-come, first-served basis. For information about registration and further details please see: http://www.astro.gla.ac.uk/solaire/index.php or contact Lyndsay Fletcher (lyndsay at astro.gla.ac.uk) ******************************************* From: Thomas Neukirch Robert Cormack Bequest Meeting 2009 The Robert Cormack Bequest Meeting on Scottish astronomy, sponsored by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and SUPA, will be held in the Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, on Monday 27th April 2009. This annual, one-day event aims to bring together astronomers, space scientists and those with an interest in astronomy from across Scotland. The programme will include presentations on a broad range of subjects to give participants an overview of what is currently going on in Scottish astronomy. Applications are now open for short contributed talks (15 minutes including questions) or posters to be presented at the meeting. For more information or to register for this event please visit http://spacetech.computing.dundee.ac.uk/cormack-2009 or contact Sarah Parkes at sarahparkes@computing.dundee.ac.uk. ******************************************* From: David Sandford CALL FOR ABSTRACTS TO "Solar and Lower Atmospheric Forcing of the Middle Atmosphere-Ionosphere System", IAGA II.02 Symposium, August 23-30 2009, Sopron, Hungary The Earth's atmosphere as a whole (including the ionosphere embedded in the thermosphere) is a coupled system influenced by the solar and magnetosphere processes from above and upward propagating disturbances from below. The coupling processes are crucial to our understanding of climate change drivers and space weather events. The Symposium invites observational and modeling studies that address the dynamics of the middle and upper atmosphere with emphasis on chemistry and transport, heat sources and sinks, solar and lower atmospheric forcing and the associated feedback on dynamics. Contributions are sought that focus on atmospheric waves (acoustic-gravity, planetary, tides), wave-wave and wave-mean flow interactions, atmospheric electricity and electrodynamical coupling processes. New results on the mesosphere-lower thermosphere wave seeding (wave penetration and secondary wave generation) of ionospheric disturbances and the solar influence on the vertical propagation condition of the waves in the middle atmosphere are particularly welcome. The Symposium will provide the opportunity to review the current progress in this field and suggest future direction of research. Invited speakers: 1. Dave Fritts - Gravity wave vertical coupling and the solar cycle effect on it 2. Ruth Lieberman - Nonmigrating diurnal tides in the thermosphere 3. Jonathan Makela - Influences on the development of equatorial ionospheric irregularities 4. Art Richmond - External influence on the electrodynamic coupling of the atmosphere-ionosphere system 5. Anne Smith - Response of mesospheric atomic oxygen to dynamical perturbation on diurnal to interannual time scales. 6. Vytenis Vasyliunas - Internal and external influences on the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling 7. Robert Vincent - Solar modulation of dynamical processes in the middle atmosphere and lower thermosphere 8. William Ward - CAWSES tidal campaigns and comparison with modeling results Convener: Dora Pancheva (Geophysical Institute, BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria; e-mail: dpancheva@geophys.bas.bg) Co-convener: Edward Kazimirovsky (Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, RAS, Russia) Important deadlines: Abstract submission: April 15, 2009 (online) or March 31, 2009 (post) Grant application: March 31, 2009 For abstract submission, registration, and more information, please, see the meeting website: http://www.iaga2009sopron.hu/ ********************************************* From: Sergei Molokov Dear All, UK MHD meeting will take place at Coventry University on June 3 ? 4, 2009 (Wednesday and Thursday). Registration details and further particulars may be found at the meeting website: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/amrc/mhd/UKMHD2009/ Regards Sergei ********************************************** From: Shadia Habbal 2009 AAS/SPD meeting The 2009 AAS/SPD meeting will be held in Boulder, Colorado, from June 14 to 18. The meeting is hosted by the Southwest Research Institute and the Boulder Solar Alliance and will be held at the Millennium Harvest House in Boulder. Detailed information about the meeting can be found at the meeting website: http://spd2009.boulder.swri.edu The meeting will feature four Parker lectures by Janet Luhmann, Sara Martin, Ted Tarbell, and Tom Woods, a lecture by the Hale prize winner Neil Sheeley, a lecture by the Harvey prize winner Laurent Gizon, and a public lecture by Dave Hathaway. In addition, there will be two special sessions entitled :The Current Solar Cycle: Where are we? and Science from SDO organized by Chris St-Cyr and Dean Pesnell respectively. The opening reception will be held from 7-9 pm on Sunday, June 14. The SPD business meeting will be held from 7-10 pm on Monday, and the SPD banquet with a live Latin Salsa Band on Wednesday evening, 6:30 - 9:30 pm. There are two excursions planned for Tuesday afternoon. Fees for meeting registration, banquet and abstract submission are posted on the meeting website, and the AAS website. The deadline for abstract submission is 11:59 pm EDT, Monday, 6 April 2009. Abstracts must be submitted through the AAS/OASIS abstract form [Link to http://members.aas.org/abstracts]. Please visit the AAS website for other pertinent rules. The deadline for early registration is 8 May. A block of rooms at the Millenium Harvest House have been set aside at the Government rate, and will be available for booking until Saturday, May 16, 2009. The following link will enable guests to make reservations via the internet: http://reservations.synxis.com/LBE/rez.aspx?Hotel=11538&Chain=5303&lang=1& group=0906SOLARP Website: http://www.millenniumhotels.com/boulder (guests can enter the group code 0906SOLARP where prompted) Submitted by Shadia Rifai Habbal on behalf of the SOC and LOC ************************************* From : W. Jeffrey Hughes The Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling Summer School 2009 Space Weather Phenomena, Consequences, and Modeling or Reality, Harsh Reality, and Virtual Reality July 20-31, 2009, Boston University The Ninth Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM) Summer School will be held at Boston University July 20 - 31, 2009. The two-week school will closely follow the model of the previous successful Summer Schools, which comprehensively immersed students in the subject of space weather, what it is, what it does, and what can be done about it. The CISM summer school supplements standard curricula relating to the physics, meteorology, and climatology of space with integrated overviews of the solar-terrestrial weather system from the Sun to the earth, its effects and consequences, and the state of the art in modeling it. A unique feature of the school is a series of three-hour computer labs to learn how to use models being developed by CISM to understand the space environment and to make space weather predictions. The team of instructors will be led by Jeffrey Hughes, Harlan Spence, Nicholas Gross, and John Lyon. The school is intended primarily for students about to enter graduate school in the space sciences or early in their graduate careers. We encourage supervisors to recommend the school to their prospective or current students. However others with a professional interest in space weather have also attended and benefited from earlier schools. Further details and the application form, including a request for financial support, can be found under Summer School on the CISM web site at http://www.bu.edu/CISM/ Applications are due by May 1. CISM is an NSF Science and Technology Center. ************************************* From: Steven Cranmer SOHO-23: Understanding a Peculiar Solar Minimum The SOHO Science Working Team has scheduled the twenty third in the series of successful SOHO workshops to focus on the topic of the unusual minimum of solar activity that persisted throughout 2007 and 2008. SOHO-23 is scheduled for 21-25 September 2009, at the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor, Maine. The SOHO-23 meeting will cover all aspects of solar and heliospheric science that deal with solar cycle variability and the evolution of solar activity on time scales from seconds to decades. The "new millennium solar minimum " of 2007-2009 has contained some distinct surprises, including a delayed onset of Solar Cycle 24, the absence of a classical quiescent equatorial streamer belt, and anomalously low heliospheric magnetic fields, densities, and temperatures. The scientific sessions for SOHO-23 will cover topics that include the solar dynamo, magnetic flux emergence and the "magnetic carpet," coronal and heliospheric magnetic fields, irradiance, coronal heating and solar wind acceleration, in-situ heliospheric plasma properties linked to the Sun, and the testing of solar cycle predictions. The full first announcement for SOHO-23 is on the meeting web site at www.soho23.org. Other details, including deadlines, a pre-registration form, and information about registration, abstract submission, and local accommodations, will appear as they become available. ************************************* From: Eric Buchlin Ninth International School for Space Simulations (ISSS-9), 3-10 July 2009, Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, France Mark your calendars to attend the Ninth International School for Space Simulations (ISSS-9) on a new University Campus located in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (very near Paris, France) on 3rd-10th July, 2009. The ISSS-9 program will be organized into two main parts: (i) teaching of space plasma simulation techniques, and (ii) sharing state of the art simulation advances and results with researchers in plasma physics. ISSS-9 will bring together the most recent spacecraft observational results, theoretical advances and numerical simulations to address the outstanding problems in space plasma physics. ISSS-9 is open to all members of the scientific community but participation by graduate students, post-docs and young scientists is particularly encouraged. Please plan on attending and we will be pleased to see you in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Website: http://www.isss9.uvsq.fr/ On behalf of the ISSS-9 Organizing Committees, Bertrand Lembège, Chair Hervé de Feraudy, Co-Chair (LOC) Yoshiharu Omura, Co-Chair (SOC) Dave Schriver, Co-Chair (SOC) ************************************* From: Luis Vieira Call for Abstracts to AGU Union Session U06 We invite you to submit your abstract to the AGU Union Session U06 ( Connecting Atmospheric, Space, and Planetary Sciences to Accelerate Progress in Addressing Earth's Atmospheric and Oceanic Coupling and Climate Variability - http: //www.agu.org/meetings/ja09/) at the Spring AGU meeting in Toronto (May 24-27) -- the deadline for the abstracts March 4. FOCUS: Questions that link together the Sun's evolution, the future states of the Earth's atmosphere and the physical processes common to planetary atmospheres. This session focuses on the processes that connect changes at the solar surface with features in the geospace and planetary environments that will ultimately lead to a better understanding of climate variability, and, in fact, any large-scale complex system. Given the importance of these issues, a closer interaction between atmospheric, planetary and space scientists is needed (and supported here) to share information from different perspectives and evaluate the state of our knowledge and modeling capabilities. Please join us in an interesting interdisciplinary interaction. A FEW EXAMPLES OF FOCUS ISSUES: -- Chemistry and dynamics of polar vortices on the Earth and other planets and their role in bringing space weather effects to lower altitudes -- System-level response of the heliosphere and planetary environments to solar wind high speed streams, or coronal mass ejections and resulting long term trends -- Predictions of future (or explanations of past) solar variability and their impacts at Earth and other planets -- Reasons for the unusual aspects of the current solar minimum and the associated responses in geospace and other planetary environments -- New information about long-term space and atmospheric climate trends -- New insights about how solar irradiance changes are amplified to drive climate variability at the Earth and nonlinear aspects at other planets. INVITED PROGRAM Invited speakers (listed below) have agreed to summarize the state of our knowledge in key areas and attempt to address questions about: the future of our Sun, long-term predictions of solar variability, space weather effects at Earth and other planets, response of the neutral and ionized components of Earth and planetary atmospheres to solar variability, and the ability of current models to assess the consequences for Earth's climate as well as the evolution of planetary environments. Ted Shepherd Marv Geller Luis Vieira Luis Vieira Scott Bailey Joanna Haigh Dan Baker Chris Russell ******************************************* From: Ludwig Klein This years Young European Radio Astronomers' Conference (YERAC) will take place in Porto, Portugal. Please have a look on the web page and encourage your young colleagues (graduate, young post docs ...) to attend. It would be nice and useful to have some solar physicists at this meeting: *********************************************************************** * * * Positions Vacant * * * *********************************************************************** From: "Manuel Grande [mng]" Postdoctoral Research Associate?Solar System Physics Job advert: Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research associate position at Aberystwyth University. The candidate's research will be complementary to at least one area of research performed by the Solar System Physics group at Aberystwyth. These are: (i) dynamic processes in the solar atmosphere; (ii) onset and evolution of the solar wind as it propagates into interplanetary space; (iii) interaction of the solar wind with planetary and terrestrial atmospheres; and (iv) planetary and lunar surfaces, and robotic exploration. The applicant should hold a PhD in astrophysics, physics or a closely related field at the start of the appointment, and should be able to demonstrate a strong research record (or the potential to develop a strong record for early career applicants). The post is funded by an STFC Rolling grant to Aberystwyth University, and the successful candidate will be expected to contribute to rolling grant activities. Further details can be found at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/hr/jobs/vacancies-external/ [www.aber.ac.uk] Informal enquiries may be addressed to Prof. Manuel Grande, email: mng@aber.ac.uk The anticipated starting date is May 2009. The post is available for 18 months for the first instance but can be extended depending on performance and continuation of funding. Salary will be in the range GBP 23,449 - 29,704. Closing date: 15 March 2009 Prof. Manuel Grande Head, Solar System Physics, Institute of Mathematics and Physics University of Wales, Aberystwyth Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3BZ, Wales Phone: (44)1970 622624, Fax: (44)1970 622826, Mobile: (44) 7881 858945 Email M.Grande@aber.ac.uk ******************************************** From: David Burgess http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/SN546/Lecturer_in_Astronomy/ A full-time permanent Lectureship is available in the Astronomy Unit in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Queen Mary University of London. The post is integral to the recently formed SEPNet (www.sepnet.ac.uk) regional alliance of universities in the southeast of England. Applicants must have an excellent record of research achievement and have expertise in an area that complements or enhances the core activities of the Unit. Applicants should be able to demonstrate a commitment to high quality undergraduate teaching in the School of Mathematical Sciences, and to graduate-level teaching in Astrophysics. The Astronomy Unit is one of four subject groupings within the School of Mathematical Sciences and has 14 permanent academic staff, 11 postdoctoral researchers and 18 PhD students. It concentrates on cosmology & gravitation, formation & atmospheres of exo-planets, solar system dynamics, solar & stellar physics, space & astrophysical plasmas and survey astronomy with particular emphasis on analytical solutions, numerical simulations and observational surveys. Computing facilities include a 800 core high performance cluster. For further information please visit www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/astronomy which describes the Astronomy Unit. Enquiries can be made to Professor Jim Emerson, Astronomy Unit Director (email: j.p.emerson@qmul.ac.uk; Tel: +44 (0)207 882 5040; Fax +44 (0)208 981 9587). -- 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