Table of Contents
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1. Solicitation of contributions to the "Near Earth Magnetosphere: Plasma, 
   Fields and Coupling" GEM Focus Group
2. GEM Space Radiation Climatology Focus Group Announcement
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			 **   THE GEM MESSENGER   **
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                                                        Volume 17, Number 9
                                                                May 9, 2007
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1. Solicitation of contributions to the "Near Earth Magnetosphere: Plasma, 
   Fields and Coupling" GEM Focus Group
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From: Focus Group co-chairs: Sorin Zaharia <szaharia at lanl.gov>, 
      Stan Sazykin <sazykin at rice.edu> and 
      Benoit Lavraud <lavraud at lanl.gov>
 
With this letter, we would like to invite potential contributors to the new 
GEM Focus Group: Near Earth Magnetosphere: Plasma, Fields and Coupling to 
participate with modeling, theoretical and observational studies related to 
the topics below. It is the ultimate goal of the focus group to improve 
physical knowledge and modeling of the near-Earth (< 10 RE) magnetosphere 
and its coupling with the outer magnetosphere.
 
An outline of the major topics of interest of the new focus group as 
proposed is accessible at
http://terra.sr.unh.edu/wiki-gem-org/uploads/Main/GEM_FGProp-2006-NearEarth.pdf 
From all the topics included in that more complete outline, two have been 
selected for breakout sessions at the 2007 GEM workshop:
 
1). How do plasma sheet properties influence the morphology of the ring 
current?
Challenges: Based on observed changes in the plasma sheet properties 
(temperature, density, ion composition, local time distribution), can the 
structure/energy content of the ring current plasma be reproduced by 
simulations? How does the ion composition in particular affect the inner 
magnetosphere plasma and the strength of a storm as portrayed by indices 
such as Dst?
 
2). What is the effect of the self-consistent interaction between the plasma 
and fields on the inner magnetosphere structure and dynamics?
Challenges: What is the effect of the self-consistent feedback between 
plasma and magnetic field on the particle transport in the inner 
magnetosphere during activity such as storms and substorms? How well 
specified is the convective electric field on an event basis? How well do 
existing simulation tools treat the complex physics of the near-Earth 
magnetosphere, including particle transport, acceleration, and the field 
response (B-field stretching, convective potential shielding)?
 
The focus of the topics may be discussed and refined during the workshop. 
Potential contributors are urged to contact the conveners indicating their 
interest in participating. Although the sessions will be held workshop-style, 
time for a few slides will be allotted for contributors to present results. 
The preliminary schedule can be found on the GEM Workshop Website at 
http://gem.rice.edu/~gem/gem2007  Besides the 2 sessions dedicated to the 
topics above, there will be a 3rd session, mainly devoted to planning of the 
focus group direction in future years; community input is both welcome and 
appreciated.

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2. GEM Space Radiation Climatology Focus Group Announcement
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From: Paul O'Brien <paul.obrien at aero.org>
      Geoff Reeves <reeves at lanl.gov>

The "Space Radiation Climatology" (SRC) focus group will hold 4
kick-off sessions at the next GEM workshop (June 17-22, 2007, Zermatt,
Utah).

The SRC FG will produce data-assimilative models of the magnetically
trapped plasmas and radiation belts. These models will be run over an
11-year period (reanalysis) to produce a baseline space radiation
climatology model for subsequent studies of long-term and statistical
properties of the inner magnetosphere (climate statistics, solar wind
coupling, etc.).

The 4 sessions are tentatively scheduled:

Thursday, 10:30-12:15, Radiation Climatology Breakout 1: Intro to FG,
discussion of focus/scope - Invited speakers: Aaron Ridley from the
Space Weather Reanalysis project, Bob Schunk from the Global
Assimilative Ionosphere Model.

Thursday, 1:30-3:15, Radiation Climatology Breakout 2: Radiation Belt
Data and Simulations - Overview of data sets, coordination with
Virtual Observatories, identification of simulations ready for data
assimilation or in progress

Thursday, 3:45-5:30, Radiation Climatology Breakout 3: Ring
Current/Plasmasphere Data and Simulations - Overview of data sets,
coordination with Virtual Observatories, identification of simulations
ready for data assimilation or in progress

Friday, 10:30-12:15, Radiation Climatology Breakout 4: Strategy and
planning session - What can we do quickly to develop momentum? What
are our greatest challenges?

Also, Friday morning the IM Tutorial will be on Radiation Climatology:
"Space Radiation Climatology: A New Paradigm for Inner Magnetosphere
Simulation and Data Analysis," Paul O'Brien.

We invite participation from the broad GEM community. While we intend
to maintain a largely informal discussion format, each session will be
built around a few oral presentations. We are particularly interested
in presentations that can demonstrate progress and lessons learned
developing data-assimilative models from existing numerical
simulations. If you have an oral presentation of a general nature for
any of our sessions, please send us the title of your contribution at
you earliest convenience. For more detailed technical presentations,
please submit a poster to the **Thursday** poster session.

Paul O'Brien (paul.obrien@aero.org), Geoff Reeves (reeves@lanl.gov)

The GEM Workshop Website can be found at
http://gem.rice.edu/~gem/gem2007/


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