2012 Summer Workshop

GEM will be holding its annual summer workshop June 17-22, 2012 at the Snowmass Conference Center in Snowmass, Colorado. Logistical information and workshop agenda can be found at the GEM Workshop Web Site.

Below are the calls for presentations by active GEM focus groups. Please note that in all e-mail addresses below the symbol @ is replaced by " [at] ".

Ion Outflow

Conveners: Dan Welling <dwelling [at] umich.edu>, Rick Chappell <rick.chappell [at] vanderbilt.edu>, and Bob Schunk <schunk [at] cc.usu.edu>

The GEM focus group on The Ionospheric Source of Magnetospheric Plasma - Measuring, Modeling and Merging Into the GEM GGCM will hold four sessions at the upcoming meeting in Snowmass. The conveners, Rick Chappell, Bob Schunk and Dan Welling would like to invite participation from the GEM community for any of the following four sessions. The sessions will begin with a summary overview talk and will be followed by contributed workshop-style talks with discussion.. The topics and times of the sessions are listed below. Please contact the session chairman for each of the four sessions to be added to the agenda for the session. We look forward to your participation in these sessions.

June 20, 2012; 3:30-5:00pm - Measurements of Ion Outflow in the Ionosphere and Magnetosphere. The Earth's ionosphere has been shown to be a significant contributor of plasma to different particle populations of the magnetosphere. Through a variety of energization processes, the low energy ionospheric particles are transported from low altitudes upward into the magnetosphere where they can become more energized and can help create fundamentally important regions such as the plasma sheet and ring current. This workshop will review and discuss observations of outflow in the ionosphere and magnetosphere as a stimulus for refining existing outflow models. Session Chairman: Rick Chappell (rick.chappell at vanderbilt.edu)

June 21, 2012; 8:15-10:00am - Modeling Ionospheric Outflow There is a continuous ion outflow from the Earth at high latitudes. The outflow consists of light thermal ions (H+ , He+ and O+) and energized ions (NO+, O2+, N2+, O+, N+, He+ and H+). The ion energization in the polar wind is associated with photoelectrons, hot magnetosphere electrons and ions, wave-particle interactions in the cusp and nocturnal oval at various altitudes, electromagnetic wave turbulence above the polar cap, and centrifugal acceleration. In addition, the ion outflow occurs in conjunction with magnetospheric convection, which causes the high-latitude plasma to drift into and out of the dayside ionosphere, cusp, polar cap, nocturnal auroral oval, and subauroral night-side ionosphere. Because of the complicated dynamics, various ion outflow models have been developed, including hydrodynamic (fluid), hydromagnetic, semi-kinetic, kinetic, generalized transport, and macroscopic particle-in-cell models. This workshop will identify the ionospheric outflow models that currently exist, establish the strengths and limitations of existing models, and determine the important outflow processes that need to be included in outflow models. Session Chairman: Bob Schunk (schunk at cc.usu.edu)

June 21, 2012; 1:30-3:00pm - Merging Outflow and GGCM Models Geospace Generalized Circulation Models (GGCMs), invaluable tools for studying the Earth's magnetosphere, have historically neglected the ionospheric source of magnetospheric plasma. Recently, an increased recognition of the importance of this source has spurred the magnetospheric modeling community towards finding new, innovative ways to include it in the large-scale models. This workshop will examine existing merging techniques between outflow and magnetosphere models and review recent discoveries concerning the impact ionospheric outflow has on the global magnetospheric results. Session Chairman: Dan Welling (dwelling at umich.edu)

June 21, 2012; 3:30-5:00pm - Outflow MMM Discussion and Planning The Ionospheric Source of Magnetospheric Plasma: Modeling, Measuring, and Merging into the GEM GGCM focus group (or simply Outflow MMM) is a focus group aimed at combining research of ionospheric outflow with Geospace General Circulation Models (GGCMs). The focus group has four major goals: refine existing outflow models through data-model comparisons, merge these models into the GGCMs and examine the impact on the magnetosphere, evaluate the coupled codes through data-model comparisons, and examine feedback from the magnetosphere to the ionospheric outflow. This session will summarize the Outflow MMM sessions that have taken place throughout the workshop and work with the GEM community to plan for the future of the 5-year focus group. Session Chairmen: Rick Chappell (rick.chappell at vanderbilt.edu) Bob Schunk (schunk at cc.usu.edu) Dan Welling (dwelling at umich.edu)

We look forward to your participation in these joint sessions.

Magnetosheath Studies

Conveners: Steven Petrinec <steve.petrinec [at] gmail.com> and Katariina Nykyri <nykyrik [at] erau.edu>

The Magnetosheath Focus Group will hold three sessions at the 2012 GEM Summer Workshop in Snowmass, CO (6/18; 10:30–12:15 & 13:30–15:00, and 6/19; 10:30-12:15). We cordially invite participants to provide short presentations related to any of the magnetosheath focus group topics listed below. We especially encourage data-analysts utilizing in-situ spacecraft measurements from the THEMIS, Cluster and Geotail missions, as well as theoretical modelers, global and local modelers to participate in this session. We also welcome magnetosheath study presentations relevant to other solar system bodies, as they relate to the terrestrial magnetosheath. Please send the title of your presentation to us by June 8th.

The Primary Objectives and Expected Activities of the FG:

1. To produce more comprehensive models of large scale magnetosheath flow and field patterns, and geometry of the magnetosheath region

2. To improve understanding of magnetosheath plasma instabilities and wave particle interactions: Spatial distribution and characteristics

3. To develop a better understanding of the effects on magnetospheric dynamics due to processes occurring in the magnetosheath and due to characteristic magnetosheath properties.

The focus group proposal with specific science questions can be found at http://gem.epss.ucla.edu/mediawiki/pdf/GEM_FG_MSheath_proposal.pdf .

Radiation Belts and Wave Modeling

Conveners: Yuri Shprits <yshprits [at] atmos.ucla.edu>, Scot Elkington, Jacob Bortnik, and Craig Kletzing

The RBW focus group will 6 sessions this year.

We invite members of the community to attend the sessions and participate in discussions on the following topics :

• Mon (10:30am-12:15pm) AM 2: RBW 1 -- GEM particle transport challenge

(Jacob Bortnik, Craig Kletzing,Scot Elkington and Yuri Shprits)

• Mon (1:30pm-3:00pm) PM 1: RBW 2 -- Dynamical modeling of the

radiation belts (Preparing Radiation Belt models for RBSP data) (Scot Elkington and Yuri Shprits)

• Mon (3:30pm-5:00pm) PM 2: RBW 3 -- Wave-particle interactions

(Particle scattering and transport) (Scot Elkington and Yuri Shprits)

• Tue (10:30am-12:15pm) AM 2: RBW 4 -- Wave excitation, propagation,

and distribution (ULF) (Jacob Bortnik and Craig Kletzing)

• Tue (1:30pm-3:00pm) PM 1: RBW 5 -- Wave excitation, propagation, and

distribution (VLF/ELF) (Jacob Bortnik and Craig Kletzing)

• Wed (10:30am-12:15pm) AM 2: RBW 6 -- GEM wave challenge, overflow

(Jacob Bortnik, Craig Kletzing,Scot Elkington and Yuri Shprits)

You can submit the title of your presentation online by following the link below to reserve a time slot during each individual session. We invite potential contributions and encourage to limit presentations to approximately 5 min.

Please submit the title of your presentations by June 5th at

http://tinyurl.com/RBW2012

In particular we would like to encourage modelers to participate in the GEM particle modeling challenge. Data for the GEM chellange and rules are given on ViRBO web site at http://virbo.org/RBW#2010_RBW_Challenge.

The Modes of Magnetospheric Response

Conveners: Larry Kepko <larry.kepko [at] nasa.gov> and Bob McPherron <rmcpherr [at] ucla.edu>

The Modes of Magnetospheric Response focus group has as its aim the improvement of knowledge of the physical mechanisms that provide different dynamical modes of response of the magnetotail to the solar wind. These include substorms, steady magnetospheric convection, sawtooth injection events, pseudo breakups, and poleward boundary intensifications. A complete description of the FG and its goals can be found at http://bit.ly/beGmTF

The Modes of Magnetospheric Response focus group will hold two breakout sessions at the upcoming GEM Workshop (June 18-22) in Snowmass, CO. This is the last full year of the focus group, with next year as a wind-down. The breakouts will be loosely focused on the following two topics:

1. "Steady" magnetospheric convection. The last few years has seen much progress in our understanding of how and when the magnetosphere enters into a quasi-steady convective mode. It has also become clear that the level of particle energization and heating depends on the 'steadiness' of the convection. We will spend one breakout attempting to summarize our understanding of SMCs. We seek talks that address any aspect of this mode, including comparisons to other convective modes.

2. Drivers and effects of other convection modes. Examples include sawtooth events, the role of non-linear coupling to the solar wind driver, polar cap saturation, the role of ion outflow, ionospheric effects, and global simulation results.

Please contact Larry Kepko (larry dot kepko at nasa dot gov) or Bob McPherron (rmcpherr at ucla dot edu) for further information, or to be added to the schedule.