The “1st Solar Orbiter Summer School: Towards a Deeper Understanding of the Sun and the Heliosphere with Solar Orbiter”, organized by the International School of Space Science of the Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Fisica Spaziale, will be held in L’Aquila, Italy, September 22-25, 2014, directed by R. Bruno, E. Antonucci and D. Müller.

The purpose of this school is to provide graduate students and postdocs – the next generation of scholars of the physics of the sun and the heliosphere – with an overview of the science themes of the Solar Orbiter mission and to prepare them for analyzing the mission’s future observations. Lectures will be given by key representatives of all ten instrument teams, as well as by senior scientists in solar and heliospheric physics.

Solar Orbiter, the first mission of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Programme and implemented in collaboration with NASA, will provide a unique opportunity to study the fundamental links between the the magnetized solar atmosphere and the dynamics of the solar wind, which, ultimately, is the source of space weather.

Applications are due before June 15  through the website http://www.cifs-isss.org/application.asp

For further information visit http://www.cifs-isss.org/ or send an e-mail to ssc@aquila.infn.it… continue to the full article

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Dear Colleagues,

This is the fourth announcement for the 14th European Solar Physics Meeting (ESPM-14; http://www.espm14.ie) that will take place in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland over 8-12 September 2014. We are pleased to announce that the abstract submission, online registration and payment, and financial support applications for ESPM-14 open on Thursday 1st May 2014. Further details on each are included below.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

Abstracts for contributed talks and posters can now be submitted through the ESPM-14 website (see http://www.espm14.ie/abstract). The abstract submission form will remain open until 23:59 CEST (21:59 UT) on Monday 16th June 2014. Please note that invited speakers are requested to *not* submit their invited talk abstracts using this form, as those invited abstracts will be solicited separately.

ONLINE REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT

ESPM-14 is recognized as an EPS Europhysics conference and therefore offers a reduced registration fee for EPS members, which compares extremely favourably with the yearly cost of an EPS membership (either 22, 44 or 66 EUR, depending upon membership of affiliated societies).

Registration and online payment is now available through the ESPM-14 website (see http://www.espm14.ie/registration). The early-bird fee rates (PhD students: 180 EUR; EPS members: 270 EUR; normal attendees: 320 EUR) will be in effect until 23:59 CEST (21:59 UT) on Monday 30th June 2014, before switching to the normal fee rates. Full details regarding deadlines for different registration fee rates are available on the ESPM-14 website (see http://www.espm14.ie/dates).

The registration fee includes attendance at the Welcome Reception (on the evening of the opening day, Monday 8th September) and the Conference Banquet (on the evening of Wednesday 10th September). During the online registration, attendees may select optional items to be included in their payment (i.e., accompanying guest(s) at the reception/banquet, conference excursions). ESPM-14 offers three conference excursion options to suit a variety of tastes. Please note, the Newgrange Neolithic Monument excursion has a limit of 45 places that will be assigned “first-come-first-served”.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

The ESPM-14 Local and Scientific Organizing Committees have secured funding to provide financial aid to a number of PhD students (and some junior post-docs from developing countries) in the form of partial accommodation and/or travel support. Applications are now solicited through the ESPM-14 website (see http://www.espm14.ie/support), with submissions accepted until 23:59 CEST (21:59 UT) on Monday 16th June. Please note, those applying for support are requested to *not* arrange accommodation until hearing the decision on their request. The financial support deadline has been chosen so that applicants will be notified well in advance of the end of registration (i.e., well before Friday 1st August 2014).

FURTHER DETAILS

Invited speakers have now been confirmed for each scientific session and are now included in the session breakdown of the scientific program (see http://www.espm14.ie/program). Additional details regarding the conference social program, travel information and links to resources about visiting Ireland and Dublin have been included in the ESPM-14 website.

We look forward to welcoming everyone to Dublin this September.

Best regards,

D. Shaun Bloomfield
(on behalf of the ESPM-14 Scientific and Local Organizing Committees)

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Many mysteries surround the Sun’s magnetic field, which is particularly topical at the moment as it has recently been behaving unexpectedly: the solar activity minimum, observed between 2006 and 2010, was longer and deeper than expected. The strength of the Sun’s magnetic field has now, once again, increased and we are currently at or close to the maximum of solar cycle 24. However, even this cycle is unusual for recent times as its peak is expected to be smaller than any cycle observed since the early 1900s. Whether it is the global modes propagating through the solar interior or those confined to solar coronal plasma non-uniformities, the diagnostic potential of waves is immense.

This workshop aims to highlight recent advances in wave theory and observations that improve our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field both on small scales, by helping us to understand specific magnetic features, such as sunspots or coronal loops, and on large scales, by helping us to understand the Sun’s magnetic activity cycle as a whole. This workshop will provide a basis for combined discussions of both internal and external aspects of the Sun’s magnetic field, helping us to connect the behaviour of the solar interior to that of the Sun’s atmosphere.

Invited speakers: Guy Davies (Univ. of Birmingham); Rekha Jain (Univ. of Sheffield); David Jess (Queen’s University, Belfast); Mihalis Mathioudakis (Queen’s University, Belfast); Valery Nakariakov (Univ. of Warwick); Giuseppe Nistico (Univ. of Warwick).

The workshop will take place on Tuesday 3rd June 2014 at University of Warwick. If you would like to attend please register by sending an e-mail to Anne-Marie Broomhall (a-m.broomhall@warwick.ac.uk) by Tuesday 20th May.

We would also like to encourage anyone who would like to give a talk at this workshop to submit an abstract to a-m.broomhall@warwick.ac.uk by Tuesday 20th May. The workshop will be relatively informal and so we particularly encourage students and early career researchers to consider submitting. Finally if anyone is interested in displaying a poster at the workshop you are also encouraged to get in touch.… continue to the full article

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