*************************** ** THE GEM MESSENGER ** *************************** Volume 10, Number 31 July 12, 2000 ----------------------------------------------------------- REPORT ON GEM STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING, SNOWMASS, 6/23/00 ----------------------------------------------------------- From: R. Wolf (wolf at alfven.rice.edu) Present: K. Baker, J. Birn, A. Chan, R. Clauer, B. Fraser, J. Freeman, R. Greenwald, F. Hall, M. Hudson, J. Hughes, H. Kawano, J. Kozyra, J. Lyon, L. Lyons, K. Nishikawa (observer), A. Petrukovich, J. Raeder, C. Russell, J. Sharber, H. Singer, R. Smith, R. Sydora, F. Toffoletto, R. Wolf (chair) The meeting started about 1:45 pm. AGENCY REPORTS Howard Singer gave a brief update from NOAA Space Environment Center. He reported that enormous interest in space weather is indicated by 1.9 Million hits in one day on the SEC web during a June geomagnetic storm. Space Weather Week was a great success with 225 participants, and the next meeting is scheduled for April 30 - May 4, 2001. During the past year GOES 11 was successfully launched, and NOAA 16 (POES) is scheduled for launch late this summer. A solar hard X-ray instrument was recently launched on a DoD satellite and a Solar X-ray Imager (SXI), which will provide one image per minute, will be on the next GOES satellite tentatively scheduled for launch next summer. Real-time solar wind data continues to be available from ACE, and SEC, in cooperation with the NASA IMAGE spacecraft team and global tracking partners, will soon provide real-time auroral oval data from IMAGE. SEC is continuing to transition space weather models into operations, although slowly because of limited funding. SEC also is working with the community in programs such as the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), NASA's Living with a Star (LWS), GEM, CEDAR, and SHINE. Reports from NASA, NSF, and AFOSR had been given in regular GEM plenary sessions. Michael Hesse gave a brief report on the status of CCMC. FALL MINI-WORKSHOP The Fall AGU will be held Friday 12/15 to Tuesday 12/19. It was agreed that the GEM Mini-Workshop should be Thursday afternoon 12/14. However, the meeting of the steering committee might be scheduled for Sunday night 12/17 rather than Thursday night. NEW MEMBERS OF STEERING COMMITTEE The committee discussed possible replacements for GEM Steering Committee members who are due to rotate off. After the meeting, Kile Baker (NSF) issued invitations for the positions on the Steering Committee, with the following results: David Murr accepted, replacing Fred Hall IV as the graduate student representative; Dennis Gallagher accepted, replacing Janet Kozyra; Mark Moldwin accepted, replacing Bob Clauer. Larry Lyons was asked to stay on for another year, as representative of the Tail/Substorm Campaign. Kile Baker had previously announced that the new Workshop Coordinator will be Frank Toffoletto and that the new Steering Committee chair will be Mary Hudson. PLANS FOR FUTURE GEM SUMMER WORKSHOPS John Freeman reported on plans for the June 2001 workshop. We cannot meet in Snowmass Village the week after CEDAR, i.e., the week of 6/24-29, because the hotel is booked. Freeman reported that the best possibility in our price range for the week of 6/24-29, among Colorado resort hotels, was the Lake Shore Lodge in Estes Park. He estimated that the total cost of that facility was about the same as in Snowmass. However, the costs are apportioned differently: they charge $195/day including all meals and the cost of meeting rooms. That pricing arrangement would be difficult for many attendees, particularly government employees. Also, the Lake Shore Lodge is more expensive for families, because all persons are charged a daily rate ($150 for spouses and $70 for children)" The Steering Committee voted overwhelmingly (14 to 4 with 3 abstentions) to meet at Snowmass Village for the week of 6/17-22, i.e., the same time as CEDAR. The committee voted unanimously to make reservations at the Silvertree Hotel, Snowmass Village, for the last weeks of June in 2002 and 2003. John Freeman and Frank Toffoletto negotiated with the Silvertree after the meeting, and the result was an oral agreement for GEM to be held at the Silvertree 6/17-22/01. A written contract is in preparation. Reservations were made at the Silvertree for for the last weeks of June in the following years. This choice of dates for 2001 still leaves open the possibility of joint GEM/CEDAR sessions either before or after the simultaneous workshops. Roger Smith agreed to ask CEDAR for suggestions for a joint workshop next year. REPORTS FROM CAMPAIGNS The TAIL/SUBSTORM CAMPAIGN continues on the schedule that the Steering Committee adopted last year. This year's workshop was a full campaign. The schedule for succeeding years is as follows: 2001. Begin rampdown with 8-9 sessions. 2002. Significant rampdown. Becomes substorm working group. Most sessions joint with other campaigns. 2003. All sessions joint with other campaigns. The GGCM CAMPAIGN continues with a policy of emphasizing joint sessions with other campaigns. NSF is requiring that models be evaluated against metrics, and the GGCM Steering Committee met to set up a timetable and various details. A problem has appeared with regard to the Phase-1/Phase-2/Phase-3 strategy for increasing community utilization of models. Phase 2 offered model runs on request from users, but no Phase-2 proposals were funded last year. Modelers requesting funding to support runs on request are at a disadvantage in a proposal competition, because they cannot describe a specific exciting science project. No solution was advanced for this problem. The IONOSPHERE-MAGNETOSPHERE WORKING GROUP has developed a detailed plan for its goals as a GEM campaign. The Steering Committee encouraged prompt preparation of a white paper. Chris Russell urged the group leaders to bear in mind that GEM campaigns have finite length. Anthony Chan reported that the INNER-MAGNETOSPHERE/STORMS CAMPAIGN is going well. Brian Fraser suggested that increased participation by wave experts would be valuable, and the leaders of the campaign agreed. There was some discussion of whether waves could be the center of a future GEM campaign. "GEM AO" Mary Hudson and Dick Wolf will jointly draft an informal announcement about GEM proposals with target date October 15, 2000. The announcement should particularly encourage proposals for the Inner-Magnetosphere/ Storms Campaign as well as GGCM Phase 1. It should also encourage proposals for the Ionosphere-Magnetosphere Campaign, assuming that that campaign issues an appropriate white paper. The "A/O" will be circulated to the GEM Steering Committee for approval before publication in the GEM MESSENGER. The M-I Coupling portion of the A/O will be reviewed by both the GEM and CEDAR steering committees and that portion will be announced in the CEDAR and SPA newsletters as well as the GEM newsletter. October 15 will be the target date for solicitation for the new joint CEDAR/GEM solicitation, which will be funded jointly from NSF's Magnetosphere and Aeronomy Programs. GEM/CEDAR/SHINE COOPERATION Roger Smith, the GEM/CEDAR Liaison, emphasized that CEDAR very much wants to cooperate. The problem is how to get specialists in different areas to work together. Janet Kozyra reported on the recent CEDAR/GEM/SHINE Workshop that was associated with the Spring AGU meeting. It was successful, with about 25 people in attendance. Various possibilities for future CEDAR/GEM/SHINE Workshops were discussed. The possibility of appointing a GEM/SHINE liaison was discussed. REPORT FROM GRADUATE STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Fred Hall IV reported that the Year 2000 GEM Tutorials were successful, thanks particularly to the efforts of Janet Green and David Murr. Thirty-six students attended this year, about the same as last year. Next year's organizers will be David Murr, Scott Thompson, and Paul O'Brien. The idea of a GEM tutorial on kinds of simulations (MHD, hybrid...) was suggested. There was discussion of re-invigorating the GEM web site, perhaps by adding a glossary and some basic information. TOO MANY MEETINGS While not wishing to discourage individual research initiatives, Chris Russell voiced concern about workshops that are loosely associated with GEM but aren't planned far in advance and approved by the Steering Committee. No specific action was recommended. REPORTS FROM INTERNATIONAL LIAISONS Brian Fraser presented the report from Australia and vicinity. The TIGER SuperDarn radar is now online in Tasmania, and there is hope of getting a second radar located in Southern New Zealand to allow vector measurements. The FedSat micro-satellite is under assembly, and will be launched into a polar orbit in late 2001. It will include a magnetometer and communications and navigation experiments. Australian Antarctic research funding has been cut back some 25% for 2001. A radiation-belt meeting is being planned in Queenstown New Zealand in July of 2001, and a Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting will be held in Wellington NZ in July 9-12 2002. Anatoli Petrukovich presented the report from Russia, where international collaborations span a wide range of topics, both experimental and theoretical. The Interball-1 spacecraft is successfully operating now with all major measurements available. Key parameter data can accessed at http://www.iki.rssi.ru/apetruko/kppover1.html and are also transmitted to ISTP CDAWeb with about 1 year delay. The Magion-5 satellite is operating successfully in the orbit of the Interball-2 spacecraft. Full information about the project, including orbital conjunction analysis with ISTP spacecraft, is available at: http://www.iki.rssi.ru/interball.html Since late 1998, the SPRUT-IV diagnostics package has been operating aboard the MIR station. It includes DC magnetic field, plasma wave and radiation monitoring instrumentation. The next models of such a package are in preparation to fly on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station. Projects at the stage of scientific investigation include --ROY (four spacecraft on 2x12 Re orbit with an active tomography experiment) http://bird.iki.rssi.ru/ROY --RESONANCE (two spacecraft on inner magnetosphere magneto-synchronous orbit to work in close cooperation with active experiments in the ionosphere and on the ground). http://bird.iki.rssi.ru/Resonance New IZMIRAN projects under preparation are: --Koronas-I (launch late 2001) - Solar science --KOMPAS - ionospheric research and new technology. --Predvestnik - ionospheric and earthquake related research. The collection of the geomagnetic station data (including more than 20 stations) is being prepared for the time interval 1984-1999. CD-ROM with the collection will be available in the fall 2000 by request from Dr. Zaitsev (IZMIRAN). In the area of space weather and other activity, a number of real-time data links and space weather forecasts and nowcasts are available from the Russian geophysical research institutions: --Space Weather links: http://www.iki.rssi.ru/apetruko/forecast/forecast.html (ACE-based nowcast in IKI, Moscow). http://www.izmiran.rssi.ru/space/solar/forecast.html (in Russian, Solar based forecast in IZMIRAN) http://www.geocities.com/romashets/ (Solar activity observations and forecast) http://teor.ysn.ru/rswi/18nm64-yakutsk-lomnitsky.html (cosmic ray based forecast in IKFIA, Yakutsk) http://alpha.npi.msu.su/RSWI/rswi.html Russian Space Weather initiative cover page. --Cosmic Ray Monitors: http://helios.izmiran.rssi.ru/cosray/main.htm (IZMIRAN, Moscow) http://pgi.kolasc.net.ru/CosmicRay/ (PGI, Apatity, Kola Peninsula) http://teor.ysn.ru/rswi/graph-GIF.html (Yakutsk) http://crdlx5.yerphi.am/solar.html (Armenia) --Solar activity: http://helios.izmiran.troitsk.ru/lars/LARS.html (solar radio emissions) --Ground Magnetometers: http://cgm.iszf.irk.ru/magnet2.htm (Irkutsk magnetometer) http://helios.izmiran.rssi.ru/cosray/magnet.htm (IZMIRAN, fluctuation magnetometer) http://charlamp.izmiran.rssi.ru/ (in russian, IZMIRAN magnetometer) http://www.aari.nw.ru/clgmi/geophys/pc_Data_Intermagnet.html (AARI Vostok PC index) --Radiation fluxes from MIR space station: http://dec1.npi.msu.su/~rtmir/ Therese Moretto presented the report from Denmark. Oersted is still working well. There will soon be a mirror site to make the data available in the U.S. Instrumentation similar to Oersted will be carried by two spacecraft, one from Argentina and one from Germany, which will soon be launched. Cluster is to be launched shortly. Dr. Moretto noted that ESA is gradually increasing its involvement in space weather. She voiced concern about the lack of Europeans at GEM, particularly those involved in the Cluster mission. Hedi Kawano presented the report from ISAS (Japan). His report on GEOTAIL was as follows: * The spacecraft survived the longest terrestrial eclipse in its history (4 hours 29 minutes) in Feb. 22, 2000, with no permanent damage. The eclipses will become shorter from now on, so there should be no more serious eclipse problems. * A Y2K problem occurred but was not serious and was soon solved. * The apogee is still about 30 Re, and the perigee is still about 9 Re. * The gain ranges of the inboard and outboard magnetometers are both fixed to plus/minus 256 nT now, because the CPU of the magnetic field instrument is out of order. * A webpage (called DARTS/GEOTAIL) at http://www.darts.isas.ac.jp/spdb/index.html makes GEOTAIL data available to the public. Data currently available there are: --- 3-sec resolution magnetic field data till Apr. 30, 1998, --- 12-sec resolution plasma moment data till Apr. 30, 1998. Data that should become available in the future are: --- 3-sec resolution magnetic field data till the end of 1999 (available soon), --- 16-Hz resolution magnetic field data (available soon), --- Bz offset table (available soon), --- E-t diagrams of the plasma data (available by the end of 10/00), --- plasma distribution function data (available by the end of 10/00). Kawano's report on Akebono (EXOS-D) was as follows: * CD-ROMs including Akebono data for 1989-1990 and Oct. 1994-Jan. 1995 are available on request. Booklets including Akebono orbit plots for 1989-1996 can also be sent upon request. The contact person is Dr. Ayako Matsuoka (email: matsuoka at stp.isas.ac.jp). * Plans call for the DARTS/Akebono webpage (to be opened) to provide summary plots of Akebono data. The contact person is Dr. Yasumasa Kasaba (email: kasaba at stp.isas.ac.jp). Rick Sydora presented the report from Canada. On the observational side, the budget for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) looks quite good. Space environment funding is scheduled to increase from $4M to $6.5M CDN. CANOPUS is strongly supported ($1.5M for 5 years), and a proposal is being completed with Samson (Univ. Alberta) and Donovan (Univ. Calgary) as PI's. L. Cogger (UC) has been contracted by CSA to review and provide recommendations from the Canadian space science community to consider the next steps over five years; there will be a planning meeting in Banff, Alberta in October, 2000. William Liu (UA) will join CSA as project scientist, replacing Terry Hughes. On the theoretical side, there is a large increase in support for computational resources. A project called MACI (Multimedia and Advanced Computing Infrastructure) was recently fully funded from the Canadian Government CFI program. It is a joint UA/UC proposal, totalling $10.1 M (CDN). UA received two SGI parallel supercomputers (Origin 2000), with Aurora (48-node) and Borealis (64-node) machines. UC received a 128-node Compaq (DEC) cluster and other components. CSA supported some of the Borealis nodes and intends to proceed with a Facility for Data Assimilation and Modeling (FDAM) for the space science community. The meeting ended about 3:45 pm. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |To add name to the mailing list or for a message to the GEM community | | please contact: editor at igpp.ucla.edu | | | |URL of GEM Home Page: http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/gem/Welcome.html | |Please update your e-mail address. | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+