In the Science Advances article, “The development of lower-atmosphere turbulence early in a solar flare” the first observational study of the onset and evolution of solar flare turbulence in the lower solar atmosphere on an unprecedented time scale of 1.7s using the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph is presented.

The work, performed by A&A group members Natasha Jeffrey, Lyndsay Fletcher, Nicolas Labrosse and Paulo Simões, was published in Science Advances on the 5th December 2018. The flare (image below) occurred on the 6th December 2016.

The flare observations are consistent with turbulence in the lower solar atmosphere at the flare onset, heating that region as it dissipates. This challenges the current view of energy release and transport in the standard solar flare model, suggesting that turbulence partly heats the lower atmosphere.

The A&A group would like to congratulate Dr Galina Motorina (former A&A PhD) for earning a place at the Heliophysics Summer School 2018.

The Heliophysics Summer School was held in Boulder, Colorado, July 24 – 31, 2018 by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, CPAESS Programs. The school focuses on the physics of space weather events that start at the Sun and influence atmospheres, ionospheres and magnetospheres throughout the solar system. It is based on lectures, laboratories, and recitations from world experts. The school is perfectly suited for PhD students and first year postdocs.

Congratulations to Paul Wright (A&A Ph.D. student) for securing a place at NASA’s Frontier Development lab.

NASA’s Frontier Development Lab is an artificial intelligence (AI) research accelerator established by NASA and the SETI Institute to apply AI technologies to challenges in space exploration for the benefit of humankind.  It brings together a diverse set of researchers from AI and space sciences.

Paul is part of a team tackling the project “Predicting Solar Spectral Irradiance from SDO/AIA Observations”. Paul and the rest of the team will present their final results on August 16th at Intel and the event will be live streamed here.

We congratulate A&A’s Dr. Eduard Kontar. He was elected president of the European Solar Physics Division (ESPD) of the European Physical Society (EPS) during the elections at the European Solar Physics Meeting (ESPM) in Budapest last week.

Dr. Eduard Kontar is also currently president of CESRA (Community of European Solar Radio Astronomers).

Well done from the group!

The ESPD is a division of the European Physical Society that represents and provides a forum for scientists interested in the physics of the Sun.