The 11th European Space Weather Week (Liège, Belgium, 17-21 November 2014) will have a session on “Solar activity as a driver for space weather and space weather modelling”

Space weather forecasting is frequently driven by the end observational products of solar activity (flare emission, CMEs and energetic particles). This is reflected in other sessions at this meeting, where inputs are used to develop forecasting tools, in order to look at the influence of the Sun on the interplanetary medium and Earth. Few sessions have been dedicated to investigating the physics underpinning solar activity, even though such work is important for understanding why, where and when flares and CMEs might occur. Such understanding is key to forming rigorous empirical and physics-based space weather forecasting tools.

There are a number of ways that the Sun influences changes in space weather in the short term (hours-days). These include changes in the structure of the corona (coronal holes, streamers, psuedostreamers, etc.), variations in irradiance, more dynamic events such as flares and eruptions, the emergence of active regions, etc. In this session we aim to present a broad spectrum of research on topics that have an impact on space weather conditions, and how they feed into models used in space weather prediction. We encourage the community to present new observations and models that might help to further our understanding of the causes and drivers of solar activity, and how these observations may lead toward the next generation of forecasting tools.

Deadline for abstract submission: June 1, 2014
For more information: http://www.stce.be/esww11… continue to the full article

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We’d like to announce a meeting on ‘Geophysical & Astrophysical Flows and Dynamos’, to take place on August 28-29 2014, at Newcastle University, UK. This meeting will discuss the latest results on the modelling of geophysical and astrophysical flows, and the magnetic fields they generate via dynamo action. It will also celebrate the 65th birthday of Professor Chris Jones, and his many contributions to these topics.

The meeting website, with additional information, is at: http://www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/caj65/ .

There is a meeting fee to cover the costs of refreshments, lunches and the meeting dinner. Early-bird registration (until July 31, 2014) is £50.00 (or £25.00 for students). Late registration (from August 1 until August 22, 2014) is £75.00 (or £50.00 for students).

Registration is now open, via the Registration page of the link above.

Thanks to the generosity of Newcastle and Leeds Universities, we have some limited funds to support attendance at this meeting; to apply for this support, please contact us (at caj65@ncl.ac.uk) by the deadline of June 15, 2014.

Best wishes,
Steve Tobias and Graeme Sarson… continue to the full article

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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 the 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, starting with a welcome coffee at 10am, and finishing at 5pm. If you would like to attend please register by sending an e-mail to Anne-Marie Broomhall (a-m.broomhall@warwick.ac.uk) by Friday 23rd 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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