Table of Contents ============================================================================ 1. GEM 2007 Breakout Session: Discussion of a Possible New Focus Group "Magnetotail Dynamics Focus Group" 2. Solicitation of contribution to the Solar wind plasma Plasma Entry and Tranport into and within the Magnetotail (PET) focus group at GEM workshop on June 17-22, 2007 ============================================================================ *************************** ** THE GEM MESSENGER ** *************************** Volume 17, Number 18 June 5, 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. GEM 2007 Breakout Session: Discussion of a Possible New Focus Group "Magnetotail Dynamics Focus Group" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Robert L. McPherron and Michael G. Henderson The successful launch of five Themis spacecraft and the on-going deployment of its ground support system will provide a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the dynamics of the magnetotail. It is therefore appropriate to propose that a new focus group be formed to coordinate GEM studies of the magnetotail. To help define the goals and structure of this potential focus group we have scheduled a session at the 2007 GEM meeting to discuss scientific questions that may be addressed using Themis data and some of the problems likely to be encountered. Topics to be discussed at this session include: * What scientific questions can be addressed using Themis data, and which of these are most important for advancing the over-arching goals of the GEM community? * How will Themis data be made available to the scientific community? * Can we uniquely associate specific events near ground with tail observations? * How accurately can we time various signatures of tail dynamics * How narrowly should this focus group define its objectives? We will invite four speakers to make short presentations each followed by ten minutes of audience participation. We invite short contributions (maximum two slides) to a 90-minute breakout session addressing these issues. The session will be held after the tutorial on Wednesday June 20 from 10:30 to 12:00 AM. Please contact either of the organizers if you would like to make a short contribution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Solicitation of contribution to the Solar wind plasma Plasma Entry and Tranport into and within the Magnetotail (PET) focus group at GEM workshop on June 17-22, 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Antonius Otto (ao@how.gi.alaska.edu), Jay R. Johnson (jrj@pppl.gov), Simon Wing (Simon.Wing@jhuapl.edu) With this letter, we would like to invite contributions to the PET focus group at the upcoming GEM workshop in Zermatt Resort, UT on June 17-22, 2007. The sessions will be held in a workshop-style in which each speaker will be allotted time for a 2-3 slides, in order to ensure enough time for discussion. Speakers are encouraged to focus their comments on unresolved issues related to a specific scientific question listed below. It is expected that there will be two sessions: (1) solar wind entry and (2) tail transport (see http://spacibm.rice.edu/~gem/gem2007). The following lists the science questions of interest in these two sessions. The core topic of these sessions is the question whether local or specific entropy is a good discriminator of different plasma entry and transport processes into the magnetotail. 1. What are the solar wind entry mechanisms and their predictions on the plasma sheet entropy during northward IMF? 2. What are the observations of plasma properties such as entropy for the plasma entry? 3. Are there dawn-dusk asymmetries in the entropy and plasma properties and theoretical explanations? 4. Can the observations be explained by a single process or are multiple processes required? 5. What do the global models predict for the local and specific entropy change for plasma entry? 6. What is the transport path of the newly captured magnetosheath plasma in the plasma sheet? Is there an influence on properties of the newly captured plasma such as momentum or entropy? 7. How do ion and electron temperatures change during plasma entry? Please send the title(s) of your contribution(s) to us at your earliest convenience at the email addresses listed above. Jay, Antonius, and Simon +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |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 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+