Thursday and Friday, 14 – 15 May 2015
Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne

Registration and abstract submission are open for UKMHD 2015. We are looking forward to receiving submissions in solar physics, dynamos, astrophysical MHD, laboratory and industrial plasmas and other relevant areas.

Four invited speakers will cover the following areas:
Alan Hood (St Andrews): MHD in the solar atmosphere
Andrew Hillier (Cambridge): Prominences
Joanne Mason (Exeter): MHD dynamo and turbulence
Ken McClements (UKAEA, Culham): Reconnection and wave propagation at magnetic X-points in fusion and solar plasmas

A panel discussion on research impact will also take place on the Friday, where we shall explore the possibilities to apply MHD research results for non-academic benefit. We can confirm the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC) will be part of this panel.

We can provide financial support to contribute to travel costs for PhD students and early career postdocs thanks to the generosity of STFC, RAS, LMS and IMA.

In addition, a public outreach event will take place on the Friday evening after the meeting. This forms part of the Newcastle Gateshead Late Shows, which by coincidence is running on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 May, during which all museums and art centres in Newcastle stay open until late in the evening.

Please note the following important dates:
28 April 2015: Abstract submission closes
30 April 2015: Abstract acceptance notification
7 May 2015: Registration and payment close

For more information and questions/clarifications, please contact the local organising committee at ukmhd2015@northumbria.ac.uk or visit the website https://sites.google.com/site/ukmhd2015/home… continue to the full article

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Dear Colleagues.

We would like to invite you to take part in the first consortium workshop to discuss the proposal for an operational space-weather mission to L5. This is a follow-on and associated workshop to those previously taken place in the USA (e.g. Boulder, CO, 02-04 December 2014 was the latest).

The workshop will take place 11-14 May 2015 at the Business Innovation Skills (BIS) Westminster Conference Centre, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET, UK (http://www.1victoriastreet.co.uk/1_victoria_street).

The objectives for the meeting include:
– Agreeing the continuing need for an operational mission to L5;
– Confirm good science can be achieved from an operational mission;
– Discuss the instrumentation to be included within the spacecraft; and
– Demonstrate to key stakeholders that there is a global interest and need for an Operational Mission to L5.

Registration for the meeting will be on a first-come basis due to a limited number of workshop places being available. The registration deadline is 12:00 UT on Thursday 30 April 2015, but we strongly encourage you to register well ahead of that deadline please. Similarly, abstract submission will also be by 12:00 UT on the same date, but again, please submit ASAP. To register, submit your abstract, and for any additional information and updates on the workshop details, please go to the official workshop website: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/conference/L5-Consortium-workshop and scroll down for further information as well as for a preliminary agenda.

There will be no registration charges, lunches and tea/coffee breaks will be provided on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for all registered participants, and we will also hold events on the Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for all workshop participants. Full details will be updated on the official website in due course.

Best wishes,

Mario.

On behalf of the Workshop Organising Committee (WOC)
Mark Gibbs (Met Office)
Catherine Burnett (Met Office)
Mario M. Bisi (STFC RAL Space)
Markos Trichas (Airbus Defence and Space UK)
Lucie M. Green (MSSL)
Jonathan P. Eastwood (Imperial College)
Nat. Gopalswamy (NASA)

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/conference/L5-Consortium-workshop… continue to the full article

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MHD Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Atmosphere
and
Celebrating the scientific career of Michael Ruderman

25–29 May 2015, Budapest, Hungary.

The BUKS 2015 meeting on “MHD Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Atmosphere” jointly with the meeting “Celebrating the scientific career of Michael Ruderman” will be held 25–29 May 2015 at Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary.

The programme will include plenary talks, contributed talks, and posters. Contributions are invited in all areas of solar and space plasma MHD wave and instability research.

Details, registration and information on abstract submission for contributions and further updates can be found at

http://swat.group.shef.ac.uk/Conferences/BUKS_2015/

Important dates:

23 Apr 2015 Hotel booking deadline to secure accommodation at a discounted rate
04 May 2015 Early Registration deadline
04 May 2015 Abstract submission deadline

Robertus Erdelyi
On behalf of SOC

http://swat.group.shef.ac.uk/Conferences/BUKS_2015/… continue to the full article

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The UK members of a European Consortium VAMDC (Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre, http://www.vamdc.eu) are holding an STFC-funded meeting to ascertain atomic and molecular data needs amongst the UK astrophysics user community, identifying what data we will need for interpretation and  analysis of key missions involving the UK community: Gaia, ALMA, PLATO,  Juice, EXOMars and, given its recent success, Rosetta (as it enters its  data reduction phase) as well as Cassini-Huygens.  The core aim of the workshop will be to get UK

users to identify their  current sources of A&M data and how they search for and elect such data. Key gaps in the A&M data sets will be identified.

The meeting will be held on Friday 17 April at Queens University Belfast, starting at 11am (coffee from 10.30) and aiming to finish by 5pm in the John Bell Lecture Theatre, Department of Physics, Queens University Belfast.

There are no registration formalities but if you wish to attend please email deaneps@qub.ac.uk so we can get catering numbers right.

Speakers:
11-12.30
Nigel Mason (Open University) Introduction to VAMDC
Serena Viti (UCL) Data needs for ALMA
Gary Fuller (Manchester) mm submm spectroscopy*
Tom Millar (QUB) Data needs for astrochemical models
Malcolm Gray (Manchester) Maser studies with ALMA and elsewhere

13.30-15.00
Aleksi Suutarinen (Open University) Interstellar ices
Alan Fitzsimmons (QUB) Comets*
Jeronimo Bernard Salas (Open University) Data needs for JWST
Jane Greaves (St Andrews) Infra spectroscopy
Jonathan Tennyson (UCL)/Nikku Madhusudhan (Cambridge) Data needs for exoplanets

15.30-17.00
Guilio Del Zanna (Cambridge) Atomic spectroscopy
Cathy Ramsbottom (QUB) Atomic data
Ian Williams/ Jason Greenwood (QUB) collision physics
Guy Rixon (Cambridge) Technical aspects VAMDC

* unconfirmed

———————-
Jonathan Tennyson,
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University College London,

… continue to the full article

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August 19-21, 2015 Ventspils, Latvia

http://yerac2015.venta.lv/

We are pleased to announce the first call for the annual YERAC conference for young scientists working in radio astronomy and related fields from Europe and the world. This year’s conference will be held in the Baltic seaside port city Ventspils and will be organized by the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre (VIRAC).
Rules of participation

All radio astronomers, who consider themselves young, are welcome. This includes, but is not limited to undergraduates, PhD students, and postdocs. Only oral presentations will be accepted, there will be no poster sessions. Participants need to register in the conference homepage http://yerac2015.venta.lv/ and arrange a support letter (an email to yerac2015@venta.lv is sufficient) from their supervisor or institution head. The conference fee is 150EUR.
Highlights

– The conference will be part of activities celebrating the return to service of VIRAC’s 16 and 32m radio telescopes after undergoing extensive repairs and upgrades.
– A parallel, yet to be announced, co-located international conference
– Baltic Applied Astroinformatics and Space data Processing (BAASP 2015, baasp2015@venta.lv, check also http://venta.lv/en/) will be held in August 20-21, 2015. Participants may present their research in both conferences (different presentations or papers).
– Submitted conference papers will be published in VIRAC’s collection of articles, the Space Research Review, vol. 4, 2015.

Venue

Engineering Research Institute “Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre” of Ventspils University College is located in VUC’s main building. A number of rooms have been reserved in B&B hotel in the same building. Ventspils is a city of 40,000 on the Venta River, near the Baltic Sea with vast sandy beaches. VUC lies at the southern edge of the city, close to a nearby forest.

Important dates

Registration opens on: 16 March 2015
Registration closes on: 31 May 2015
Deadline for the conference fee payment is 31 May 2015
Submission deadline for full papers: 15 August 2015
Conference starts: 18 August 2015 (arrival and welcome party)
Conference ends: 22 August 2015 (departure)

Contact: yerac2015@venta.lv

 … continue to the full article

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The First Annual Open Meeting for the FP7 HELCATS (Heliospheric Cataloguing Analysis & Techniques Service) Project is taking place on 19 – 22 May 2015 in Göttingen, Germany. The meeting is entitled: “Heliospheric Imaging: A new era of space science and space weather observations”.

The Annual Open Meeting is open to anyone who wishes to attend.

For more details on the meeting, and details of how to register please go to:
http://www.helcats-fp7.eu/meetings/2015-05-19_1st_Open_Meeting.html

Regards,
The HELCATS steering committee

 … continue to the full article

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We invite you to submit an abstract to the Current Developments in Computational Astrophysics (NumAstro) session at NAM 2015 (http://nam2015.org). The submission deadline is the 1st of April. The session is tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday 8th July.

Please circulate this invitation to your colleagues and students.

Session summary: Contributions to this session should be focused on the development, testing and implementation of numerical schemes currently used in astrophysics, including but not limited to methods for I) smoothed particle hydrodynamics, II) grid-based hydrodynamics and III) mesh free hydrodynamics. Although we differentiate between these three approaches based on pure hydrodynamics, we also invite contributions concerning magnetic fields, gravity, self-gravity, particles and particle tracking, PDFs and radiation transport. We particularly encourage submissions from early career researchers and graduate students, presenting latest developments to mature codes, or presenting new codes and the associated validations, or seeking guidance to overcome development issues. Confirmed invited speakers include Prof. Sam Falle, Prof. Ant Whitworth and Dr Rowan Smith.

More information: http://nam2015.org/index.php/science-programme/parallel-sessions/details/2/25
Registration: http://nam2015.org/index.php/registration
Abstract submission: http://nam2015.org/index.php/science-programme/submit
Social programme: http://nam2015.org/index.php/social-events

Regards,
Session Chairs: Chris Wareing, Sven Van Loo, Julian Pittard… continue to the full article

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The Space Weather group at the Space Research and Technology Institute – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria (www.space.bas.bg/Eng/Eng.html) invites you to the 7th workshop on Solar Influences on the Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Atmosphere to be held in Sunny Beach resort, Bulgaria, 1-5 June 2015.

The scientific topics are:

• Sun and solar activity
• Solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions
• Solar influences on the lower atmosphere and climate
• Solar effects in the biosphere
• Instrumentation for space weather monitoring
• Data proccessing and modelling

The registration and abstract submission deadline is 18th May 2015.

The registration fee (290/360 EUR for twin/single-room) covers the conference materials and a 6-day full-board accommodation. For all details, please visit the workshop web-page:

ws-sozopol.stil.bas.bg

Scientific Organizing Committee
Katya Georgieva (Space Research and Technologies Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria) – Chair
Crisan Demetrescu (Institute of Geodynamics, Romanian Academy)
Petra Koucka-Knizova (Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Czech Republic)
Vladimir Obridko (IZMIRAN, Moscow, Russian Federation)
Atila Özgüc (Kandilli Observatory, Turkey)
Dibyendu Nandi (Indian Institute for Science Education and Research, Kolkata, India)
Olga Malandraki (IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, Greece)

Local Organizing Committee (Space Research and Technologies Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria):
Boian Kirov – Chair
Simeon Asenovski
Dimitar Danov
Rositsa Miteva (sender)
Jordanka Semkova

 … continue to the full article

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We would like to invite you to submit contributed abstracts to the parallel session “The science of space weather: progressing our understanding” at the 2015 UK National Astronomy Meeting from 5-9 July (http://nam2015.org). The abstract-submission deadline is 1 April 2015.  Observers, modellers, and theoreticians are all welcome. We also welcome participation from end users interested in how the science of space weather is advancing.

Lucie Green, Mike Hapgood, Mario Bisi and Deb Baker

The science of space weather: progressing our understanding

The goal of this session is to provide an opportunity to discuss the scientific research that underpins space weather and how a new generation of operational space weather measurements could best be utilised to further progress our understanding. Specific topics are likely to include

1. gaps in our understanding of space weather and how to resolve them,
2. new space and ground-based data that are needed,
3. new science that can be carried out with the operational space weather measurements being planned today.

This session is motivated by the fact that the UK has a strong heritage in the science of the coupled Sun-Earth system, from both an observational and theoretical perspective. This research is increasingly being applied to the area of space weather monitoring and forecasting, a topic that is now nationally recognised as an important natural hazard for the UK (highly ranked in the National Risk Register) and the subsequent opening of the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre in 2014.

Up until now, both the research and the space weather monitoring and forecasting have utilised mainly data from instrumentation (both space- and ground-based) designed to answer pertinent scientific questions, though some operational instruments (e.g., the X-ray and particle detectors on NOAA’s GOES spacecraft) are also widely exploited for scientific use. However, there is now growing interest in deploying more instruments, in space and on the ground, designed to support operational space weather services. Such operational measurements can facilitate new science, as demonstrated by the extensive research use of GOES data, but it is important that the limitations imposed by operational needs are discussed.… continue to the full article

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We invite you to submit an abstract for the parallel session on “Energetic Particles in the Heliosphere: from the Sun to Planetary Atmospheres” at the UK National Astronomy Meeting of 2015 (see http://nam2015.org/ for full details).

The session is organized over three blocks, taking place on Monday 6th. We welcome abstracts from both the UKSP and the MIST community. The abstract deadline is the 1st April.

Energetic particles play a key role in many impulsive processes (e.g flares, substorms) in the solar corona, planetary atmospheres and interplanetary space. They are practically important as one of the essential links between solar activity and space weather.

The aim of this session is to discuss recent theoretical and observational results concerning the acceleration and transport of non-thermal particles in the heliosphere. In particular we will focus on the following problems:

– Particle acceleration models in the solar corona and planetary magnetospheres.
– Observational detection of energetic electrons and ions in the solar atmosphere and the heliosphere.
– Solar and cosmic ray particle precipitation in planetary atmospheres.
– The impact of energetic particles on space weather and modern technology.

We encourage submissions from observers and modellers of solar energetic particles and those investigating the impact of energetic particles on the terrestrial and other planetary atmospheres.

Session Organisers:
Hamish Reid
Mykola Gordovskyy
Mathew Owens
Chris Scott
Claire Watt
Luke Barnard

http://nam2015.org/… continue to the full article

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