Table of Contents ============================================================================ 1. NSF GEM: DASI Break-out Session at GEM 2007 Summer Workshops 2. GEM 2007 Summer Workshops: Breakout sessions on MI Coupling Electrodynamics and Transport ============================================================================ *************************** ** THE GEM MESSENGER ** *************************** Volume 17, Number 11 May 14, 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. NSF GEM: DASI Break-out Session at GEM 2007 Summer Workshops ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Moldwin The concept of solving major science questions by deploying a network of small instruments was endorsed by the National Research Council's Space Studies Board in their report, The Sun to the Earth and Beyond: A Decadal Research Strategy in Solar and Space Physics. A NRC SSB-CSSP ad hoc committee chaired by John Foster wrote a detailed report from a Woods Hole Workshop on DASI science (http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11594&page=1). The original DASI concept envisaged a single overarching entity with a high priority science question to be answered. However, this has evolved, and at Woods Hole it became evident that DASI means different realizations to different communities. The CEDAR community has taken the lead in developing ideas and concepts for DASI since aeronomy has traditionally been based on ground-based observations of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. However, there are many MI coupling problems that could only be solved with a coordinated, large- scale comprehensive suite of ground instrumentation. This year CEDAR is hosting a one-day DASI Workshop on June 29, 2006 in Santa Fe immediately following the CEDAR Workshop. The purpose of that workshop is to: * Involve and invite community participation both formally and informally to discuss science questions that need DASI solutions. * Advance the ideas presented last year in the CEDAR Frontier Science Questions session. * Hear lessons learned from present day mini-DASI deployments. * Strategize on how mini-DASI deployments and their infrastructure can be leveraged to create the overarching DASI. * Hear from International colleagues on deployment issues of DASI beyond the U.S. * Invite NSF participation and input on time lines and realization strategies. The workshop provides an open forum for all CEDAR science questions that can potentially be addressed by DASI. At GEM, a break-out session will be held on Wednesday June 20 at 10:30am to invite GEM input to the development of the DASI concept. Mark Moldwin is acting as the GEM-CEDAR DASI liaison and will summarize ideas and concepts from the GEM community to the CEDAR-DASI workshop participants and the DASI steering committee. The break-out session will briefly describe the DASI concept, its present status, and will have time for GEM community input for science questions that can only be addressed by a DASI program. If you have suggestions for GEM science questions that could be addressed by a DASI concept, are interested in learning more about DASI and contributing to its development, please contact Mark Moldwin (mmoldwin@ucla.edu) to be placed on the Break out agenda or the GEM DASI email list. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. GEM 2007 Summer Workshops: Breakout sessions on MI Coupling Electrodynamics and Transport ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Josh Semeter Bill Lotko At the GEM Workshops to be held in Zermatt, Utah this summer, the Focus Group on MI Coupling Electrodynamics and Transport (MICET) will hold two breakout sessions, tentatively on June 18, devoted to: 1. Physics of the MIC Gap Region, and 2. Cross-Latitude Coupling. Additional information on these topics is included below. Please let one of us know if you would like to participate in one of the breakout sessions. 1. "Physics of the MIC Gap Region" The 2-3 RE spatial "gap" between the upper boundary of global ionospheric- thermospheric models and the lower boundary of global magnetospheric models is an important site of collisionless plasma transport. From observations we know that electromagnetic power flowing into this region, mostly from the magnetosphere, is transformed into field-aligned electron beams, ion outflows and heat. These processes occur on spatial and temporal scales that are small compared with grid sizes and time steps used in current global models. We face a twofold challenge: first we must develop a suitable physical description of energy conversion in the gap region and, second, we must develop quantitative models for these sub-grid processes using, as input, the large-scale variables available to us from the global models. We suggest that participants in this working group focus on one or more of the following issues for the 2006 workshop. Phenomenology, model development, and model validation are all relevant: 1) the current-voltage relation in regions of downward field-aligned current; 2) electron energization and transport in Alfvénic regions; 3) models for ion transport in regions 1) and 2); and 4) ion outflow in the polar cap, essentially a polar wind. We are especially interested in ideas and strategies for developing subgrid models for use in global models and their validation. Observational studies and perspectives that enlighten development of such models are critical to success. 2. "Cross-Latitude MI Coupling" A major consequence of convection is the horizontal transport of the ionospheric plasma throughout the midlatitude and polar regions. Thus what might be considered in isolation as a midlatitude, auroral, cusp, or polar cap phenomenon is influenced by convective transport of plasma parcels traversing these regions and their time histories. The finite residence time of the convecting plasma in a given region also determines the extent to which the parcel is locally modified by processes operating in the region, e.g., interaction with Alfven waves in the low-altitude cusp region, auroral ion heating, outflows, etc. The magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction imparts a dual nature in the signatures of cross-latitude transport. For example, midlatitude ionospheric plasma surges convecting poleward toward the dayside merging throat appear in the magnetosphere as plasmaspheric plumes moving toward the magnetopause; nightside auroral poleward boundary intensifications are indicative of fast magnetotail plasma flows; ionospheric outflows from convecting polar patches and tongues of ionization endow the plasmasheet with structure in plasma composition and bulk properties; and magnetospheric reconnection gives rise to intense Alfven wave activity and electromagnetic power flows which are converted to electron beams and ion outflows in the low-altitude cusp and auroral-polar cap boundary region. Progress in understanding the MI interaction of these and other mesoscale phenomena and their consequences requires a concerted effort among observationalists, modelers and theorists with expertise in ionospheric and magnetospheric physics. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |To subscribe GEM Messengers, send an e-mail to | | with the following command in the body of your e-mail message: | | subscribe gem | |To remove yourself from the mailing list, the command is: | | unsubscribe gem | | | |To broadcast a message to the GEM community, please contact Peter Chi at | | | |Please use plain text as the format of your submission. | | | |URL of GEM Home Page: http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/gem/Welcome.html | |Workshop Information: http://gem.rice.edu/~gem | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+