My apologies if this reaches you multiple times through different
channels.

We will be having a celebration for Bob Lin’s 70th birthday and the 10th
anniversary of the launch of RHESSI, on Friday, Feb. 10th, in Berkeley.
We will have RHESSI-related talks in the morning, a casual buffet lunch,
and talks covering Bob’s other science interests and personal
reminiscences in the afternoon. There will be a banquet dinner at a
local restaurant. Attendees will pay for lunch and dinner (probably on
the order of $10 and $30, respectively), but there will be no other
registration fee.

We hope you can attend. RSVP by January 16th by going to the following
link, entering your full name in the poll, and checking off which events
you will attend as follows:

http://www.doodle.com/22x2mubcq88c8iue

9AM means you will attend the morning talks
12PM means you will attend the buffet lunch
1PM means you will attend the afternoon talks
6:30PM means you will attend the banquet dinner

We hope to see you there!

David Smith

We are entering a golden era for exoplanet science and asteroseismology, driven by new satellite and telescope observations of unprecedented quality and scope. The discovery and characterisation of exoplanets is one of the most active areas in modern astronomy, and has seen tremendous growth in the UK in the past decade. Transiting planets in particular offer unique opportunities to study the interior structures, compositions and atmospheres of a vast range of exoplanets. Understanding stars is clearly of central importance to astrophysics as a whole, but the synergy is particularly potent for exoplanets: in many cases, it is our knowledge of the host star properties which currently limits the detectability and characterization of planets.

This 3.5 day residential course is aimed primarily at graduate students studying exoplanets, asteroseismology, helioseismology, and/or stellar and solar activity. The programme consists of lectures by leading UK experts,
providing an overview of the key scientific questions addressed by these areas and their mutual synergies, and team projects providing a hands-on introduction to the most important data analysis and modelling techniques using data from state-of-the-art facilities. The course is limited to a maximum of 30 students, and all participants must apply before Friday 18/11/2011. STFC-funded students have priority but other graduate students and young postdocs interested in exoplanets, asteroseismology (including helioseismology), and stellar activity, are welcome to apply.

http://physics.ox.ac.uk/EAHS12

http://physics.ox.ac.uk/EAHS12

A Joint STFC Futures and IPEM Workshop for Cancer Care: Computing for Imaging, Early Diagnosis and Therapy will be held on the 19th and 20th March 2012 in Cambridge (venue to be confirmed). Please visit the following link which will show you information on the event http://www.stfc.ac.uk/Business+and+Innovation/24644.aspx

Should you need to raise any queries relating to the event, please e-mail STFC Innovations Club at Innovationsclub@stfc.ac.uk

Regards
Melanie

We welcome oral and poster presentations from the MIST, UKSP and broader astrophysical communities concerning observational, experimental and theoretical aspects of magnetic reconnection. We especially encourage contributions which emphasize the similarities and differences of reconnection between various astrophysical, magnetospheric and solar phenomena, and those that address the breakup of current layers in two or three dimensions.

Meeting registration and abstract submission are now open on the NAM website:http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam

The abstract submission deadline is 3 February and our session is provisionally scheduled for the morning of Thursday 29 March.

If you have any questions, please contact a convener.
Conveners: Clare Parnell, Bernhard Kliem, Andrew Walsh

Session Summary

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process involving topology change and energy release in plasmas and conducting fluids throughout the universe. All events associated with a change in magnetic field connectivity must involve magnetic reconnection. Examples include disruptions in fusion plasmas, the opening of planetary magnetospheres to the interplanetary magnetic field at their dayside magnetopauses, flux closure during substorms in planetary magnetotails, coronal heating, solar eruptions, the entry of interstellar plasma into the heliosphere, the dynamic balance between a star’s open and closed magnetic flux, highly efficient particle acceleration in solar and stellar flares and astrophysical jets. Space plasmas are a particularly rich source of information about the mechanisms and consequences of reconnection, with recent missions like Cluster and SDO providing deeper insight and revealing new challenges. Despite intense research, the nature of reconnection processes at microscopic scales are far from understood. Currently two key developments of the field address the two-dimensional breakup of current layers into a cascade of filamentary structures and the related three-dimensional breakup of current layers relating to various topological or geometrical properties of the magnetic field. Both of these processes suggest a transition into a turbulent regime.

The session targets both the UKSP and MIST communities as well as astrophysicists interested in effects related to magnetic fields. We intend to provide a broad forum for the discussion of all relevant observational, experimental and theoretical aspects of magnetic reconnection. Especially welcome will be contributions which emphasize the similarities and differences of reconnection between various astrophysical, magnetospheric and solar phenomena and the key developments mentioned above.

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam

The UK Solar Physics meeting for 2012 will be held as part of the RAS NAM in Manchester, March 27-30.
NAM will be a joint meeting with the German Astronomical Society (Astronomische Gesellschaft).

A call for Sessions will go out in the Summer, abstract submission around December. The UKSP SOC comprises Philippa Browning,
Yvonne Elsworth, Mykola Gordovskyy, Valery Nakariakov and Ineke De Moortel. Contact p.browning@manchester.ac.uk

The Solar Physics programme is given below. Note that some of these sessions are listed in the NAM programme under “MIST” or “Magnetic Universe” as they are joint.

These have a “MAG” or “MST” code. However, all these sessions are fully part of the Solar Physics programme (equally, some MIST sessions are listed under Solar Physics).

Thus, a UKSP strand runs throughout the 4 days of NAM. The usual UKSP lunch will also be held.

SP5: Waves in the Solar Atmosphere. (Mathioudakis et al)
MAG2: Structure and Dynamics of Solar and Stellar Magnetic fields. (Hornig et al)
SP1: Interplanetary observations of the Solar Wind. (Davis)
SP4 Solar Orbiter Mission. (Fludra et al)
SP3 UKSP/MIST Missions Forum. (Williams et al)
MST1. Magnetic Reconnection in space and astrophysical Plasmas (Parnell et al )
SP2 Solar coronal magnetic fields. (Regnier et al)
MST5. Particle acceleration and transport at the Sun and in the heliosphere. (Gordovskyy et al)
SP6. Solar Physics General Session. (Nakariakov et al)

More information about these sessions (and others) is available at www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam. Please note also that some other sessions may be of interest to members of the UKSP community. We highlight the LoFAR session (INS4 – organised by Mario Bisi); also ALMA (INS1), Numerical Astrophysics (CP1) and Public Astronomy (OUT1) as well as other sessions in MIST and Magnetic Universe programmes.

UKSP is a great opportunity to meet with your colleagues and catch up with what is happening in UK Solar Physics. And this year, the meeting should be more exciting than ever due to the participation of the German community. Students are especially encouraged to present talks or posters (note that the

student registration rate is very heavily discounted this year).

We look forward to welcoming you in Manchester.

Philippa Browning (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics – on behalf of UKSP SOC and NAM2012 LOC)
Prof Philippa Browning
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
University of Manchester
Manchester
M13 9PL
Tel: (44) (0) 161 306 3912

Session abstract:
Topic: The generation, propagation and dissipation of waves in the solar interior and atmosphere

Over the last few years, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves and oscillations have been observed to be continuous and ubiquitous in all the different layers of the solar atmosphere with both space-based missions (e.g. SOHO, TRACE, STEREO, Hinode & SDO) and ground-based facilities (e.g. ROSA & COMP/DST, CRISP/SST, TESOS/VTT, GONG/NSO etc). The generated waves are believed to play a hugely important and influential role in determining the behaviour of the Sun’s highly structured and dynamic atmosphere from the solar surface up to the corona, even determining Space Weather in the interplanetary space.

The aim of this session is to discuss recent advancements, challenges and future directions in the theory, simulation and observation of wave phenomena from the interior to the outer layers of the solar atmosphere.

Details on the submission of abstracts and registration can be found at www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Richard Morton, Mihalis Mathioudakis, Youra Taroyan, David Jess, Balazs Pinter, Sergei Zharkov

We would like to invite you to submit an abstract to our session, SP1 “Interplanetary observations of the solar wind” at the National Astronomy Meeting to be held at the University of Manchester from 27-30th March 2012.

Submission, registration and accommodation details can be found at the meeting website; www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Chris Davis, Volker Bothmer, Matthew Owens, Jackie Davies.

Session Abstract: SP1 Interplanetary observations of the solar wind

In recent years, and particularly with the advent of the STEREO mission, many new data analysis techniques have been developed that have improved our ability to track solar wind transients out to distances of 1 AU and beyond. Combining these tracking techniques with complimentary methods such as interplanetary scintillation (IPS) and in-situ spacecraft measurements is advancing our understanding of how these solar wind transients propagate through the heliosphere. There is still much to learn about the links between the Sun and the heliosphere, in particular the origins of the ambient solar wind and solar ejecta, their structure and evolution as they propagate into interplanetary space and their subsequent interactions with planets and other solar system bodies. This session will draw together our current knowledge of the physics within the solar-heliospheric environment, and consider techniques that will lead to progress in this area of science, with particular emphasis on the exploitation of multiple missions.

www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam

We invite abstracts for the session “Solar Orbiter mission – How does the Sun create and control the heliosphere?” (SP4) that will take place during the 2012 National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester on 27-30 March.

In October 2011, Solar Orbiter was selected as ESA’s Cosmic Vision Medium Class mission for launch in 2017. The spacecraft will travel closer to the Sun than any previous solar mission, reaching 0.28 AU at perihelion. The inclination of its elliptical orbit will increase up to 30 degrees latitude to provide, for the first time, a clear view of Sun’s polar regions. Solar Orbiter will measure the solar wind plasma, fields, waves and energetic particles close to the Sun and provide the first detailed link between the solar wind and magnetic fields measured at the location of the spacecraft and their origins on the Sun.

The mission represents a unique opportunity for members of both the Solar Physics and STP communities to come together to capitalise on the science of Solar Orbiter.

We welcome oral and poster presentations from the MIST, UKSP and broader astrophysical communities concerning current observational, experimental and theoretical studies which relate to the science goals of Solar Orbiter and the scientific preparation for the mission. Contributions describing other missions and instrumentation that will provide related measurements during the Solar Orbiter era are also welcome. We especially encourage participation from those parts of the community which have to date not been directly involved in the project preparations.

Meeting registration and abstract submission are now open on the NAM website: http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/meetings/nam2012/

The abstract submission deadline is 3 February and the Solar Orbiter session is scheduled for the morning of Wednesday 28 March.

Best regards,

Andrzej Fludra (STFC/RAL), Louise Harra (UCL/MSSL), Tim Horbury (Imperial College), Chris Owen (UCL/MSSL)

sessions and programme are now available on the website www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam

Local information is also available.

Registration and abstract submission will open shortly – the deadline for abstracts is February 3rd 2012.

The Solar Physics programme is given below. Note that some of these sessions are listed in the NAM programme under “MIST” or “Magnetic Universe” as they are joint.

These have a “MAG” or “MST” code. However, all these sessions are fully part of the Solar Physics programme (equally, some MIST sessions are listed under Solar Physics).

Thus, a UKSP strand runs throughout the 4 days of NAM. The usual UKSP lunch will also be held.

More details of each session are available on the NAM website (organisers, timing, session description).

Please start planning your abstracts now!

Philippa Browning (JBCA, Manchester)

SP5: Waves in the Solar Atmosphere. (Mathioudakis et al)
MAG2: Structure and Dynamics of Solar and Stellar Magnetic fields. (Hornig et al)
SP1: Interplanetary observations of the Solar Wind. (Davis)
SP4 Solar Orbiter Mission. (Fludra et al)
SP3 UKSP/MIST Missions Forum. (Williams et al)
MST1. Magnetic Reconnection in space and astrophysical Plasmas (Parnell et al )
SP2 Solar coronal magnetic fields and activity. (Regnier et al)
MST5. Particle acceleration and transport at the Sun and in the heliosphere. (Gordovskyy et al)
SP6. Solar Physics General Session. (Nakariakov et al)

Conveners: Mario M. Bisi (Institute of Mathematics and Physics, Aberystwyth University, Wales), Michael W. Wise (Astronomy Group, ASTRON – Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, The Netherlands), Philip Best (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Scotland), Benjamin W. Stappers (The School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, England), Peter T. Gallagher (School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland), and Marcus Brüggen (School of Engineering & Science, Jacobs University, Germany).

Meeting Website: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam/ – listing the full details of the meeting and how to go about registering (deadline: 12 March 2012) and submitting abstracts (deadline: 03 February 2012).

Session Description: The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a next-generation radio telescope which utilises thousands of stationary dipoles and tiles to observe celestial phenomena. This session is intended for the joint communities of NAM/GAG/UKSP/MIST to learn about the developments of LOFAR including updates on the status of the system and its current scientific capabilities, the early science results from all aspects of its applications and operation, as well as the upcoming opportunities for general “open skies” observing. The LOFAR dipoles and tiles are grouped into various ‘stations’ which are centred on the Netherlands with additional stations across Europe. In The Netherlands, a total of 40 LOFAR stations are nearing completion with an initial eight international stations already deployed in Germany, France, Sweden, and the UK (and at least four more expected between Poland and Germany by the end of 2013). With its dense core array and interferometric baselines of up to 1,000 km, LOFAR has the potential to achieve both unparalleled sensitivity (sub-mJy) and spatial resolution (sub-arcsecond) in this largely-unexplored low-frequency radio regime (~10 MHz to 250 MHz). It is also a key pathfinder for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and its technology and design remit are presently being used as an initial test bed for the future EISCAT_3D system to be based across northern Scandinavia. LOFAR will be able to survey wide areas of the sky all at once and will open up a new window for astronomers, astrophysicists, cosmologists, and solar/space scientists alike. Areas of science which can be explored with LOFAR include, but are not limited to, the Epoch of Re-ionisation (EoR), Pulsars, Transients, Cosmic Rays, Magnetism, deep Extra-Galactic Surveys, and also studies of the Sun, the Solar Atmosphere/Solar Wind, Space Weather, and the Earth’s Ionosphere/Atmosphere. In summary, the session is designed for showcasing LOFAR’s scientific potential and progress to date. The session should include a LOFAR overview and specifics of LOFAR commissioning, current status, scientific and technical capabilities, and upcoming opportunities. We solicit contributions from any/all of the science areas that will be covered by the observational capabilities of LOFAR which would include contributed abstracts on the early space, solar, solar wind, ionosphere, and solar system studies, the early results from the galactic and extra-galactic science which will also include pulsars, magnetism, cosmology and the Epoch of Re-ionisation (EoR) work to date.

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam/

Conveners: Mario M. Bisi (Institute of Mathematics and Physics, Aberystwyth University, Wales), Michael W. Wise (Astronomy Group, ASTRON – Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, The Netherlands), Philip Best (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Scotland), Benjamin W. Stappers (The School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, England), Peter T. Gallagher (School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland), and Marcus Brüggen (School of Engineering & Science, Jacobs University, Germany).

Meeting Website: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam/ – listing the full details of the meeting and how to go about registering (deadline: 12 March 2012) and submitting abstracts (deadline: 03 February 2012).

Session Description: The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a next-generation radio telescope which utilises thousands of stationary dipoles and tiles to observe celestial phenomena. This session is intended for the joint communities of NAM/GAG/UKSP/MIST to learn about the developments of LOFAR including updates on the status of the system and its current scientific capabilities, the early science results from all aspects of its applications and operation, as well as the upcoming opportunities for general “open skies” observing. The LOFAR dipoles and tiles are grouped into various ‘stations’ which are centred on the Netherlands with additional stations across Europe. In The Netherlands, a total of 40 LOFAR stations are nearing completion with an initial eight international stations already deployed in Germany, France, Sweden, and the UK (and at least four more expected between Poland and Germany by the end of 2013). With its dense core array and interferometric baselines of up to 1,000 km, LOFAR has the potential to achieve both unparalleled sensitivity (sub-mJy) and spatial resolution (sub-arcsecond) in this largely-unexplored low-frequency radio regime (~10 MHz to 250 MHz). It is also a key pathfinder for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and its technology and design remit are presently being used as an initial test bed for the future EISCAT_3D system to be based across northern Scandinavia. LOFAR will be able to survey wide areas of the sky all at once and will open up a new window for astronomers, astrophysicists, cosmologists, and solar/space scientists alike. Areas of science which can be explored with LOFAR include, but are not limited to, the Epoch of Re-ionisation (EoR), Pulsars, Transients, Cosmic Rays, Magnetism, deep Extra-Galactic Surveys, and also studies of the Sun, the Solar Atmosphere/Solar Wind, Space Weather, and the Earth’s Ionosphere/Atmosphere. In summary, the session is designed for showcasing LOFAR’s scientific potential and progress to date. The session should include a LOFAR overview and specifics of LOFAR commissioning, current status, scientific and technical capabilities, and upcoming opportunities. We solicit contributions from any/all of the science areas that will be covered by the observational capabilities of LOFAR which would include contributed abstracts on the early space, solar, solar wind, ionosphere, and solar system studies, the early results from the galactic and extra-galactic science which will also include pulsars, magnetism, cosmology and the Epoch of Re-ionisation (EoR) work to date.

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/nam/

The SOC of the National Astronomy Meeting 2012 is happy to announce a call for proposals for sessions.

The NAM2012 will take place March 27-30, 2012, at University Place, the
University of Manchester. It will be a joint Germany-UK Meeting, organized on
behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society in conjunction with the German
Astronomischen Gesellschaft. Two specialist groups, UKSP (Solar Physics) and
MIST (Magnetosphere Ionosphere Solar Terrestrial) will also meet at NAM

The NAM will consist of both plenary sessions including invited talks, and
parallel meetings of a more specialist nature, covering astronomy, planetary
sciences, UKSP and MIST.

All parallel sessions are open to bids from the community. These bids can be
for sessions and symposia of any length, from a single 90-minute session up to
2 days (exceptionally longer). The topics should provide a broad coverage of
areas of astronomy in which the UK/German communities are involved, and should
encourage interaction between people. The SOC warmly encourages joint bids
from the German and UK communities.

Bids can be submitted by email to nam2012@jb.man.ac.uk They should specify:

-Title;
-Topic;
-Main organizer,
-The number of 90-minute sessions requested;
-and a scientific justification of no more than 500 words (shorter is
allowed), and an indication of the target audience (e.g. people working in
which topics).

The SOC will select from the bids and will decide on how many sessions to
allocate to each accepted bid.

Once all sessions are decided, registration will open and people can submit
abstracts for each of the sessions. The session organizers will have full
responsibility for selecting oral and poster contributions from the
submissions and for creating a programme.

The conference has a rudimentary website
http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/meetings/nam2012/

The deadline for submitting proposals is Friday, Oct. 7, 2011. Successful
submissions will be notified during November. The call for abstracts and
registration is expected early December.

On behalf of the SOC

Albert Zijlstra

www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/meetings/nam2012/

First Announcement:”Spectroscopy of the Dynamic Sun” (18-20 April 2012)

We are hosting a meeting entitled ‘Spectroscopy of the Dynamic Sun’ which will be held
at UCL in London from 18-20 April 2012. The meeting will celebrate the careers of Prof.
George Doschek and Prof. Tetsuya Watanabe.

http://msslxr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk:8080/SolarB/spectrosun/index.jsp

Put the date in your diary!

Registration is now open. The deadline for abstract submission and the discount for early registration is 2 March 2012.

Details such as abstract submission process, registration form, accommodation, etc can be found at the meeting website:
http://msslxr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk:8080/SolarB/spectrosun/index.jsp

(short URL: bit.ly/spectrosun)

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Dr Deb Baker
UCL/MSSL LOC

http://msslxr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk:8080/SolarB/spectrosun/index.jsp

CALL FOR PAPERS
Session PS5.3 / ST6.4
Planetary, Solar and Heliospheric Radio Emissions

Deadline for receipt of abstracts: 17 January 2012

Home page: http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2012/home.html

Abstract soumission: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2012/abstractsubmission/10253

Session details: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2012/session/10253

Scope of the session:

The session provides an opportunity for the presentation and the discussion about non-thermal radio emissions emanating from the five magnetized planets, the Sun, the heliosphere, and extra-solar planets. Particular attention is given to observations and interpretations of radio wave phenomena based on techniques (e.g. wave polarization measurements) and methods (e.g. direction finding) of radiophysics. Theoretical investigations, including numerical simulation, are recommended especially for comparative studies between magnetized bodies in the solar system. This session also aims at the evaluation of the results concerning the ongoing missions (e.g. Cassini/RPWS, Cluster/WBD, Demeter/ICE, Stereo/SWAVES, Wind/WAVES) as well as the plans for future ones (e.g. Juno, Resonance, Solar Orbiter) and their relevance for a better understanding of the solar and planetary radio emissions. New advances in the field of ground-based giant radio telescopes (e.g. LOFAR, FASR) are supported with main emphasis, on the one hand, on the development of new generation of radio reception systems (antennas and instruments) and, on the other hand, on the applied methods towards a synergy between space and ground-based stereoscopic observations.

The UKMHD2012 meeting will be held on May 24-25 in the University of Sheffield.
More information on the web page etc. will be sent out later.

with best wishes

Rekha Jain

Are you interested in promoting your research to a wider audience? If so then you are invited to a free Public Engagement Symposium on the 29th May 2012 hosted at Diamond Light Source and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. It is aimed at all light source, neutron and muon users (e.g. Diamond, ESRF, CLF, ISIS and ILL) interested in developing public engagement activities that highlight their research to wider audiences.

We wish to harness the enthusiasm, commitment and talents of our users in order to highlight to the wider public the crucial role that our world class facilities play in advancing scientific knowledge for the wider benefit of society.

The Symposium is being run in partnership by the STFC and Wellcome Trust in association with all of the UK Research Councils, Diamond, ILL , CLF and ESRF.

Who can attend?

The symposium is open to any researcher, and especially early career people e.g; (PhD students, PDRA’s), who interact with STFC facilities and laboratories, use data or are involved in areas such as high performance computing.

The STFC and the Wellcome Trust will be offering bursaries of up to £100 for early career researchers. Registration details will follow in the next announcement.

Keynote speaker and workshops

We are pleased to announce that Dr Daniel Glaser will be giving the keynote address at the symposium. Dan is Head of Special Projects in public engagement at the Wellcome Trust. He comes from a neuroscience background, was the first ‘Scientist in Residence’ at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), has presented a television series for the BBC and co-chairs Café Scientifique at the Photographers’ Gallery.

Workshops at the symposium will cover topics including science writing and working with press teams, public speaking and presenting, social media tips and advice on presenting to schools and a range of adult audiences.

There will also be networking, so that delegates can meet potential collaborators and colleagues from funding bodies and facilities to discuss ideas on public engagement.
Further information and registration details will be released in the early 2012.

We hope to see you there,

Neville Hollingworth, Laura Holland and Jo Lewis (the organising committee)

The Space Weather Integrated Forecasting Framework network (http://www.swiff.eu) will organize, 4 – 9 June 2012, the “First European School on Fundamental processes in space weather, a challenge in numerical modeling”. The School will focus on the theoretical study of Space plasmas, in particular on those systems where a continuous energy injection flow leads to a self-consistent coupling of the large scale, low frequency motions with the small scale, high frequency fluctuations including kinetic effects. Progress in this field heavily relies on numerical simulations that, as a matter of fact, are nowadays more similar to laboratory experiments than to theoretical exercises. This is true in terms of planning efforts in the preparatory phase, of manpower required, of data analysis and cost. The understanding of these processes represents a fundamental step for the future of Space Weather models.

The School, first addressed to PhD and young researchers with a background in plasma physics, intends to introduce the participants to the theory of fundamental processes in plasma physics, from Magnetic Reconnection to Instabilities in space, to Turbulence. The School will also give an overview on the most important numerical models in plasmas, from fluid to kinetic (in particular Vlasov and PIC algorithms), and their implementation on the largest computing resources today available in Europe. The School is organized in collaboration with CINECA, the Italian super-computing center, and co-funded by Associazione culturale “Abbazia di Spineto”. This School will be followed next year by a second edition focused on the observational aspects.

There are scholarships to cover the costs for many students.
The deadline for submission of applications for financial support is 25 January 2012. Applications can be submitted through the web site of the school mentioned below.

http://www.df.unipi.it/~califano/SWIFF_School/EU_School_on_Space_Weather_fundamental_plasma_processes.html

As July is a busy period in Crete, it would be helpful if you could indicate your interest to attend or request additional information by sending an email to: buks2012@qub.ac.uk

Regular updates will be provided in the link below.

https://habu.pst.qub.ac.uk/groups/buks2012/

For more information please visit :

http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/buks2012

Hotel accommodation (inclusive of meals and drinks) can also be booked at this time.

Mihalis Mathioudakis

Session organizers:
Andrea Verdini, Royal Observatory Belgium (verdini@oma.be)
Robert W. Walsh, University of Central Lancashire, UK (rwwalsh@uclan.ac.uk)

We would like to invite you to submit your abstract to the above session (E2.5) at the 39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly to be held in Mysore, India (14-22 July, 2012).

Recent observations reveal the presence of jets and spicules that may be carrying hot plasma into the corona at considerable speeds. It has been argued that this phenomena could represent a major contribution to solving the coronal heating problems.Yet, estimates of their occurrence rate, filling factor, energy, and mass are still preliminary. Moreover, jets and spicules are often associated with the ingredients of classical coronal heating paradigms: magnetic reconnection, waves and turbulence. 

Authors are invited to present observational and theoretical/numerical work aiming to classify the possible coronal heating processes in terms of their main features: duration, energy release, rate and place of occurrence. The spatial and temporal resolution of current and future space-borne instrumentation as well as an extensive solar monitoring provide opportunity to enrich datasets with the accompanying statistical analysis of these candidate heating theories. However, is there a dominant mechanism which can be discriminated in the quiet Sun, active regions, and coronal holes? Can these dynamical and/or impulsive features work together and which are their connections?

NOTE: Abstract deadline: 10 February 2012

Confirmed invited speakers include K. Shibata, V. Nakariakov, V. Hansteen and D. Banerjee.

Information concerning this event can be found at
http://www.cospar-assembly.org and http://www.cospar2012india.org

http://www.cospar-assembly.org

As part of the 2012 COSPAR conference, to be held in Mysore (India) in July 2012 (14/7-22/7), we are organizing a session on “Flows and Waves in the Solar Atmosphere in the SDO Era”

The aim of the session is to provide a forum for discussions on observational and theoretical aspects related to flows and waves in the solar atmosphere (see below for details). We invite the submission of abstracts.

The abstract deadline is: 10 February 2012
*******************************************

Please forward this email to other colleagues that might be interested.

We hope to see you in Mysore

Giulio Del Zanna and Brigitte Schmieder

—————————————————————————————
Session E2.2: Flows and Waves in the Solar Atmosphere in the SDO Era Scientific Panel : RESEARCH IN ASTROPHYSICS FROM SPACE

Local page: http://www.cospar2012india.org/Default.aspx
COSPAR Home page: http://www.cospar-assembly.org

Session details

This session provides a forum for discussions on observational and theoretical aspects related to flows and waves in the solar atmosphere, with emphasis on magnetic fine structures from the photosphere to the corona.
With the higher spatial and temporal resolution of the STEREO, Hinode, SDO instruments, the number of puzzling features has actually increased. This concerns mainly observations and modelling of waves and flows in active regions and prominences. In a few cases, opposite views have been expressed. With the high-resolution data from SDO, we now have the chance to clarify some of the outstanding issues by combining high-cadence imgaging with high-resolution spectroscopy (e.g. Hinode/EIS and ground-based). We welcome theoretical and observational contributions.
We intend to group speakers presenting differing views on selected topics and allow some time for discussions.

We shall have review talks from G. Aulanier, M. Goossens, P. Heinzel, V. Nakariakov, D. Tripathi.

Held since 2003, the Solar Image Processing workshops focus on the extraction of useful information from solar data. This meeting will broaden our attention to the more general problem of “Information Processing” and how to obtain the best scientific return out of the petabytes of data that are now available.

Topics covered will include amongst other: data reduction, data-mining, three-dimensional reconstruction of solar features, tracking of evolving features in multiple time- and length-scales connecting co-spatial and co-temporal features in multiple wavebands, as well as discussions on alternate data analysis environments (Python, R, PDL, GDL).

We will also look at future challenges, such as the even larger data acquisition rates from the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, and the combination of heterogeneous, multivariate & distributed observations such as those from Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus.

As in previous meetings, morning sessions will be given over meeting-wide talks from inter-disciplinary speakers, with afternoons dedicated to smaller, parallel splinter sessions where researchers in particular topic areas will have the opportunity to discuss the details of their research.  Poster contributions are also solicited. We will also have a problem-solving session where participants will have the chance to present their ongoing research and poll the community for potential new directions.

The meeting will be held over four full days, 13-16 August 2012 , at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT, USA.
Deadline for abstract submission (TBC) :  May 15, 2012,
Deadline for registration (TBC) is June 30st, 2012.
Latest information is available at www.sipwork.org.

LOC Chair: P. Martens, MSU
SOC Co-Chairs: J. Ireland / C. A. Young

www.sipwork.org

we’d like to draw your attention to the next General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, taking place in Beijing, China on 20-31 August, 2012 (http://www.astronomy2012.org).

Four meetings that bear strong relevance to Solar Physics will take place during the General Assembly, as detailed below. This is the first time that so numerous events related to Solar science occur in a single GA. Further, within the current schedule these events have limited temporal overlap, allowing participants to attend more than one of them during the duration of the GA, as well as the usual host of complementary activities provided by the IAU.

Deadline for abstract submission and IAU travel grants request is Feb 29, 2012. Further details will be provided in the webpages of the various meetings, which are being developed.

Best regards,

A. Kosovichev, L. van Driel Gesztelyi, G. Cauzzi, J.L. Bougeret

+++++++

IAU Symposium 294 “Solar and astrophysical dynamos and magnetic activity”
27-31 August
Contact: Alexander Kosovichev, sasha@sun.stanford.edu
http://sun.stanford.edu/IAUS294/

IAU Joint Discussion 3 “3-D views of the cycling Sun in stellar context”
20-22 August
Contact: Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi, Lidia.vanDriel@obspm.fr
http://www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/iau_c10/iau28ga_jd03.html

Special Session 6 “Science with large solar telescopes”
22-24 August
Contact: Gianna Cauzzi, gcauzzi@arcetri.astro.it
http://www.arcetri.astro.it/IAUSpS6

Special Session 10 “Dynamics of the star-planet relations & Public Outreach”
27-30 August
Contact: Jean-Louis Bougeret, jean-louis.bougeret@obspm.fr
http://lesia.obspm.fr/IAUSpS10 (available soon)

Note that there will be several SpS10 associated activities:
- joint IAU-WISER Advanced School on Space Environment (3 days)
- two Public Forums at Peking University and Tsinghua University

Eclipse on the Coral Sea: Cycle 24 Ascending
November 12 – 16, 2012, Palm Cove, Queensland, Australia
Sponsored by Monash University, James Cook University, NSO/GONG, ESA/SOHO, and SDO
GONG 2012 / SOHO-27 / SDO (number to be confirmed)
As we emerge from one of the deepest and longest solar minima on record, with a new and powerful eye on the Sun -SDO- we invite all those with an interest is solar activity to gather in beautiful Palm Cove, Australia to review and assess our current knowledge and understanding of our magnetic star, and to experience the awe and wonder of a total solar eclipse on November 14, 2012.

Topics of discussion will include, but not be limited to:

* Observing and understanding the solar cycle
* Oscillations and seismology of activity from interior to corona
* Large scale transients and CMEs
* Small-scale transients and high-cadence observations
* New results from SDO, Hinode, and the new instruments on the ground, and all other aspects of the active Sun

SOC chair: Paul Cally (Monash); co-chair: Robert Erdelyi (Sheffield)
LOC: chair: Aimee Norton (James Cook University); Alina Donea, Paul Cally (Monash)

Web: http://moca.monash.edu/eclipse
Contact: aussie.eclipse@gmail.com

On behalf of the Science and Local Organizing Committees, I invite you to mark your calendars for a conference/workshop entitled “Tracing the Connections in Solar Eruptive Events” to be held November 30 – December 5, 2012. The conference will be devoted to sharing analysis, interpretations, and results based on recent observations from various solar spacecraft, such as ACE, Fermi, Hinode, RHESSI, SDO, SOHO, and STEREO. This is the third in a series of “California Wine Country” conferences, and the format will be a mixture of plenary sessions and cross-connected working groups following the highly successful model established by earlier conferences in the series (Sonoma 2004: http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/RHESSI/rst/old_welcome.html and Napa 2008: see http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/RHESSI/napa2008/ ).

A fledgling website is online at:

http://hessi.ssl.berkeley.edu/petaluma/index.shtml.

The overarching objective of the conference is to examine the connections amongst the phenomena that lead to solar eruptive events. The current slate of themes includes:

- Measuring the Coronal Magnetic Field;
- Connections to, and Reactions of, the Large-Scale Corona;
- Large-scale Magnetic Connectivity of Active Regions;
- Transfer of Energy to, and Storage of Energy in, the Corona;
- The High-Energy Particle – Flare – CME connection.

Working groups will address topics such as:

- Energy Transfer throughout a Solar Eruptive Event;
- Global Energetics of an Ensemble of Events;
- Coronal Influences to the Lower Atmosphere;
- CME Initiation and Type II Bursts;
- The Release of Energetic Particles in the Low Corona;
- Flows vs. Waves;
- Microflares/Nanoflares;

We also intend to have a panel-led debate on the topic of “How much closer are we to flare prediction?”

More details will be announced in due course. In the meantime, please mark your calendars, and I look forward to seeing you in Northern California wine country this time next year!

Gordon Emslie
Chair, SOC