Published by the SCOSTEP Secretariat with the assistance of WDC-A for STP
SCOSTEP Secretariat: J. H. Allen/N. L. Alkire
c/o NGDC/NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303
Tel. (1 303) 497-7284; FAX (1 303) 497-6513
E-Mail: jallen@ngdc.noaa.gov
SCOSTEP and STEP are going through some critical times. For several years, with the financial support from NASA and NSF, the US STEP Coordination Office (USSCO) published STEP International, the principal communications and information link with over 4,000 scientists throughout the world working on, or interested in, solar-terrestrial physics. A total of 34 numbers were issued on a near-monthly basis since January 1992, and hundreds of scientists collaborated as authors of articles or providers of key information. Dr. Michael Teague dedicated much of his time as a most able scientific editor of this periodical.
A few months ago, the regular production of STEP International came to an abrupt end.
During the last four years, in my capacity as the International STEP Coordinator, I paid extensive visits to 13 countries in five continents, nine of them from the Third World, with the main purpose of meeting with scientists active in STEP-related research, finding out about their work and main concerns, and briefing key science administrators and government officials on STEP. Without exception and regardless of whether the country was advanced or developing, the publication of STEP International was cited by scientists and administrators alike as the most tangible and most useful community service being provided by STEP. Indeed, they often mentioned it as a model that should be emulated by other international programs.
Since the demise of STEP International, proposals have been made to issue an electronic mail version, or to include pertinent information in one of the electronic bulletins of a national space agency. There is no doubt that the electronic "information superhighway" is now the most efficient system of communication and information transmission for science. But not for all people. Most scientists in the developing countries, even many in advanced countries, do not have easy access to electronic mail, particularly to the possibility of receiving text with figures and tables. Hard copies are the only means to deliver scientific information to scientists in developing countries on a large-scale, regular and fair basis.
Let us not forget that as the program of an ICSU body, STEP has the commitment to serve interested scientists in all countries, including those that are financially and technologically disadvantaged. Today, this requires more attention than ever. Indeed, when it comes to the development of international programs of scientific cooperation, it is necessary to recognize that the rapid development and expansion of electronic communications systems is, paradoxically, contributing to a widening of the scientific gap between developing and advanced countries. The reason is that it fosters the formation of close and efficient but mostly informal research alliances between scientific groups within the industrialized nations, while leaving out scientists in regions where accessibility to electronic media is difficult or expensive, or does not exist at all. This greatly diminishes the opportunities for scientists from developing countries to join in cooperative research projects. It also degrades the role of the traditional international scientific organizations and the effectiveness of their programs, which are increasingly being bypassed by individual scientists from the more advanced countries. The altruistic motivation of helping less fortunate colleagues in developing countries is rapidly disappearing in the advanced countries, where scientific competition and professional survival have become dominating driving forces.
Recently, I attended a meeting of COSTED (ICSU Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries) on behalf of SCOSTEP. During the discussions, the biggest problem with scientific research in the Third World (besides the chronic lack of sufficient funds) was identified to be the utterly deficient communication with and among the "grass root" scientists. Key information on international cooperative programs and on opportunities for research and study just was not reaching the working scientists, especially from the younger generation. In the developing countries, easy access to E-Mail, FAX and other fast means of communication is still mostly reserved to a privileged few.
The termination of STEP International as a regular information bulletin in hard copy form will be quite detrimental and demoralizing to thousands of solar-terrestrial scientists from the Third World eager to participate in STEP or learn about its projects. It will seriously impair the effectiveness of SCOSTEP in its prime mission of assistance to the world community of scientists.
I can only express my sincere hope that this problem is only a temporary one, and that SCOSTEP, with the active support from its member countries and the unselfish cooperation of its scientists, will find a solution well before STEP comes to a formal conclusion.
Juan G. Roederer
FROM THE SCOSTEP SECRETARIAT
This interim issue of the International STEP Newsletter is put together on a very ad hoc basis with
the assistance of Belva Edwards (she is compiling it) and all those who have submitted items. It will
be noticeably different from the very nice looking issues published over the last several years by
Michael Teague and Lynda Williams. Although SCOSTEP tried hard and invested quite a bit of
budget in the attempt, we were unable to sustain the international newsletter activity in the US STEP
Coordination Office after NASA and NSF indicated no additional support would be forthcoming for
that aspect of coordination. This does not mean that all coordination is ended, nor does it mean that
NASA (and presumably NSF) won't still help in many ways. It does mean that a printed and mailed
newsletter will not be a regular feature of the remaining months of STEP. This also probably has
significance for the first Post-STEP program, S-RAMP (described elsewhere in this Newsletter.)
The SCOSTEP Executive Officers, Secretariat, and STEP Steering Committee are unanimous in
feeling that a printed version of a newsletter can be a useful and valuable asset to our international
STEP activity. Hence, this stopgap effort. Joe King (NASA GSFC & WDC-A for R&S) was very
helpful in providing mailing labels for this issue. The National Geophysical Data Center and the
Boulder centers of WDC-A have been very supportive of our efforts to get this issue into being and
distributed. As in years past, Jim Colt has put the considerable resources of his printing company at
our service for roughly the cost of production of this document.
If you feel that this effort is worthwhile, please let us know. Especially, please submit appropriate
text for another issue to be published in the early months of 1996 (we have the 1995 STP Newsletter to
finish this year and the 1995 Annual Report to ICSU to complete, as well as books to balance and an
audit in the next months.) If there is a scientific editor out there wishing to volunteer services, please
make this known. The Secretariat doesn't need this added duty.
If publishing a hard-copy newsletter seems anachronistic to you and not worth the expense, tell us
that too. There are many newsletters on Internet and some on WWW. If you have time, they are there
to access. Personally, I usually check the table of contents of one on-line newsletter (SPA) and then
usually trash it. I have never accessed the on-line version of the earlier STEP International. The hard
copy was more suited to my needs and was especially convenient to mail to someone wanting
information or to include with an annual report.
SCOSTEP Membership
According to the SCOSTEP Constitution as last published in 1992 and from the July 1995 "draft"
circulated at the IUGG, there are several categories of "members." There are: the Executives
(President, VP, and Scientific Secretary), Bureau members (Execs plus representatives of participating
bodies -- ICSU bodies involved in STP), Scientific Discipline Representatives (appointed by the
Bureau), Representatives of Adherent Bodies (e.g., supporting nations or regions), and members of
program Steering Committees (usually chairman, co-chairman, and Working Group leaders.)
From time-to-time SCOSTEP publishes its "Constitution and Directory" which document is the
basis for our organization and gives a useful list of names and addresses for all the above "members."
I find this very helpful around the Secretariat and even for many non-SCOSTEP activities. However,
this limited idea of "membership" is not enough.
Last July someone attending the IUGG XXIst General Assembly and SCOSTEP meetings in
Boulder gave me a name and address of someone in Estonia with the request that they be added to
"SCOSTEP Membership" and receive future publications. I can't add such a person to the Directory
described above, but the person was added to our mailing list for the "STP Newsletter" published
annually by the Secretariat. Also, they will be added to the STEP International mailing list. The latter
two directories used for mailing SCOSTEP publications include some 5,000 scientists and
administrators. E-Mail addresses are known for only about one third of them and these are relatively
volatile. Perhaps not all are "members of SCOSTEP", but at least all are on our mailing list until they,
or someone remaining after their departure, requests that the name be removed. About once a decade
we circulate these mailing lists to a few internationally minded, active scientists with a request for
them to scan the lists and mark names and addresses that should be changed or deleted. Keeping up
with such lists is a major undertaking, but one done largely as time permits and at widely spaced
intervals. We have, on one occasion, sorted our mailing list by nation and sent each group to a
"national contact" with a request for help in determining who should be retained, who should be
deleted, and what should be changed. Some helpful replies were received. If you have suggestions for
adding someone to SCOSTEP membership, please send the information to us. Thanks for your time
and interest.
J. H. Allen
OPPORTUNITIES FOR COORDINATION OF ANALYSIS FOR COMMON PERIODS OF
INTEREST
Alan Kiplinger has reported that several series of coordi-nated solar observations have been
conducted by many space- and ground-based observations. Listed below are reports from the P.I.
teams who led those efforts and all the authors are interested to know about other observations of
related phenomena and/or of the same periods which might lead to joint analysis efforts.
The need is for basic information on the types and times of observations from participating
observatories around the world. The purpose is to facilitate scientific collaborations and to offer
scientists information about other data that can augment their own.
Although Alan has circulated these reports by E-Mail to a large audience, they are repeated here to
reach those scientists who may have missed them. The collaborative, cumulative coverage possible
with both digital on-line and printed information will obtain better distribution of information and
improved results in cooperation.
Leaders and contact persons of these efforts have asked that reports from observatories be sent
directly to them. However, that does not make such reports generally available. Therefore, please
send your report to Alan at the E-Mail address: To simplify the submission of these reports, a blank ascii observing report form is
available via E-Mail by sending the E-Mail message:
A blank form showing the types of information needed will be E-Mailed back to the sender to fill
in. In the future, it is hoped that more and more sites can maintain current on-line catalogs of data
collected and that links to such data sets can simply be posted. An example is the link to Lockheed's
on-line catalog of SOONSPOT optical data located near the bottom of the Coordinated Solar
Observations page:
http://www.sel.noaa.gov/solcoord/solcoord.html
It is preferable, but not necessary for reports for different time periods to be separate reports so they
may be collected into groups. Note that the blank form suggests a common format, but other ascii
formats are acceptable since printing costs are no longer a factor.
SPARTAN 201-3 Mission, 8-10 September, 1995
Dates/Times of Spartan Observations: 18:45 UT/8 Sept. -- 09:43 UT/10 Sept.
E-Mail contacts: lika@madhu.gsfc.nasa.gov and strachan@wuzza.harvard.edu WWW
information: http://umbra.gsfc.nasa.gov/spartan.html
To get information about instrumentation and objectives via E-Mail, send the message:
To get specific SPARTAN pointing and observing plans send the message:
From: Lika Guhathakurta: The Spartan 201-03 mission has been a great success. Richard Fisher
conveyed to me that White Light Chronograph took excellent images of the solar corona. The data
quality is even better than the first mission. Lots of fine structures in the north polar hole and the
streamers! Thanks everyone for your support.
From: Leonard Strachan: UVCS/Spartan quick-look
The Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer (UVCS/Spartan) instrument appears to have performed as
expected. An inspection of some of the observations from eight orbits suggests broad wings on the
observed Ly-alpha profiles in the north coronal hole as found in previous flights. Ly-alpha profiles
that were sampled from different coronal heights have count rates that are similar to those from the last
Spartan 201 flight, indicating no large change in system efficiency for the instrument. Also,
background levels in the sample data set indicate that the detector performance and instrument stray
light levels were normal. A check of an observation of the narrow geocoronal Ly-alpha line
demonstrated that the spectrometer was in focus.
Because only a small number of sample data of short duration were inspected as of this time, we
have not yet detected any transient phenomenon. Detailed analysis of the data will begin after the
flight tapes are duplicated and distributed to the science teams.
We are interested in any type of spectroscopic data obtained at the same time of the Spartan 201-3
observations. We are especially interested in any type of observation that overlapped the UVCS field
of view (1.5 to 3.5 solar radii from Sun center.)
X-Ray Bright Point and Filament Campaign 15-23 September, 1995
To get information about instrumentation and objectives via E-Mail send the message:
get solcoord xrb95.info
Information on the filament aspects of the observations can be retrieved by sending the E-Mail
message:
get solcoord sept95_filaments.info
From: Karen Harvey: From September 15-23, 1995, a collaborative observing campaign was
conducted to observe X-ray bright points (YOHKOH/SXT) and their counterparts in the magnetic
field and chromosphere (He I 1083 nm and H-alpha) structures observed at several ground-based sites.
We tracked two areas: an area of mixed polarity observed from Sept 15-18 (N14E17 9/15) and a
filament channel observed Sept 20-23 (N16E12 9/20.) We are very interested in learning of
concurrent observations of these targets that may have been obtained.
Meudon-YOHKOH Chromospheric Observations 19-26 October 1995 (Note that two such campaigns were held this year. Reports are also needed for similar
observations which occurred from 8 - 16 June 1995.)
To get information about instrumentation and objectives via E-Mail send the message:
get solcoord meudon_yohkoh95.info
From: Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: The Meudon-YOHKOH campaign is over. Pierre Mein and
Jean-Marie Malherbe completed their chromospheric observations at Tenerife with the MSDP
instrument and will return to Meudon soon. It has been a very successful campaign as far as solar
activity goes, we have had three interesting targets and observed an M1 flare. Unfortunately,
YOHKOH has been unable to observe with us since the solar eclipse on 24 October. We keep our
fingers crossed for the success of the recovery operations.
Please kindly send us a list/summary of your observations during the campaign. You could send
such reports to either of us at the above addresses.
We would like thank all of you for your participation. With best wishes, Brigitte Schmieder,
Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi
Total Solar Eclipse of 24 October 1995 (~02:00 - 05:00 UT)
To get information about instrumentation and objectives via E-Mail send the message:
get solcoord 24oct95_eclipse.info
Jim Green, A. Nishida, and L. Zelenyi have announced a new URL at: http://iacg.org
where interested persons can learn about the multi-spacecraft, multi-agency, coordinated campaign to
study "Magnetotail Energy Flow and Non-Linear Dynamics." This first campaign of the Inter-Agency
Consultative Group (IACG) (for Space) was defined in 1992. It has two phases: (1) The Structure of
the Global Magnetotail System, especially during quiet periods, and; (2) Magnetotail Effects of the
Global Solar Wind-Magnetosphere Interaction, especially during active periods.
IACG core missions involved in the first campaign include GEOTAIL (ISAS), WIND (NASA),
INTERBALL-Tail (IKI), INTERBALL-Aurora (IKI), and POLAR (NASA) spacecraft. At present,
only the first three of these are in orbit. However, many of the scientific objectives can be realized
with data from these spacecraft in conjunction with others in orbit (e.g., IMP-8, GOES-6 and -7, and
the LANL spacecraft). Ground-based observing instruments also will contribute valuable data to this
campaign. Dates chosen for the first phase of the first campaign at the IACG meeting in Sapporo, Japan (6
Sept 1995) are: Oct 18-21; Oct 26-27; Oct 31 - Nov 1; Nov 11-12; Nov 17; Nov 27-30; Dec 3-4; Dec
7; Dec 15; and Dec 18-20 (all in 1995); and, Jan 12, 1996.
Anyone with questions about becoming part of the IACG 1st Campaign analysis team, please
contact J. L. Green at:
green@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
or call (1 301) 286-7354, or write to him at his office, Code 930.2 NASA, Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771.
On behalf of the entire "SCOSTEP family", it is a pleasure to congratulate Drs. Paul Crutzen, F.
Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, 1995 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry. The prize was awarded
for their pioneering research on the chemistry of the Middle Atmosphere and the ozone-destroying
components. Their work is a clear example of basic research that is having tremendous practical,
economic and political consequences. SCOSTEP's Middle Atmosphere Program was in part inspired
by the early results obtained by these investigators; we are proud to have them as our colleagues.
C.-H. Liu
NASA SPACE ENVIRONMENT AND EFFECTS PROGRAM
Responsibility for the NASA Space Environment and Effects (SEE) Program was transferred
(effective 1 Oct.) from NASA Langley Research Center to Marshall Space Flight Center. The goal of
the SEE program is to develop a coordinated national capability to design, build, and operate
spacecraft that will accommodate or mitigate space environment effects while operating in the space
environment. To achieve this goal, the Program will: (1) maintain up-to-date engineering focused
space environment models, databases, design guidelines, processes, and procedures (i.e., tools) in
place for use in initial spacecraft design; (2) implement the processes and plans to routinely update
these tools with research results when they become available; and (3) simplify the access to and use of
the tools developed.
The Program is now restricted to Earth orbit components of the space environment and spacecraft
effects. Working groups based on technical disciplines are: Electromagnetic Effects; Ionizing
Radiation; Materials and Processes; Meteoroid and Orbital Debris; Neutral External Contamination;
Plasma and Fields; and Thermosphere, Thermal and Solar Conditions.
Eighteen* research proposals submitted in response to NASA's mid-1994 NRA were selected for
sponsorship. If funds are available, another NRA will be issued later in 1996. Sponsored research
topics include:
* Only sixteen project areas were identified in the first communication received from NASA. For
more information, contact Steven D. Pearson, Mail Code EL23, NASA MSFC, Huntsville, AL 35812,
FAX (205) 544-8807 or E-Mail: steve.pearson@msfc.nasa.gov
At the SCOSTEP meeting in Sendai, Japan, during June 1994, the Bureau announced a program of
special grants to foster supplementary research projects that would be of interest to and involve
participants in two or more STEP Working Groups. An application procedure was evolved through
interaction between the Chairman of the STEP Steering Committee, the SCOSTEP Scientific
Secretary, and leaders of the STEP Working Groups. For 1995, it was decided that the maximum
grant would be for no more than $10K.
Eighteen proposals were received by the Secretariat in early 1995 and were evaluated by Bureau
members and others. At the Bureau meeting in Boulder during July 1995, seven proposals were
selected to receive all or part of the requested funds. Successful proposers and titles of projects
were:
Some winners of Bureau grants received supplementary amounts from individual STEP Working
Group 1995 annual budgets. Other proposals that were not supported by the Bureau were referred to
STEP Working Group Chairmen for potential support and some have received financial support.
Terms for the 1996 Bureau SUPPLEMENTAL STEP RESEARCH INITIATIVE have not been
established but will be announced early in 1996 by the Secretariat. It is probable that the $10K limit in
place for the 1995 grants will be lifted with the idea that a proposal may be made for up to $40K.
Also, it is likely that more emphasis in evaluating the 1996 proposals will be placed on the extent to
which they promote interaction and overlap between different discipline groups of STEP.
S-RAMP, SCOSTEP's FIRST POST-STEP PROGRAM
S-RAMP (STEP-Results, Applications, and Modeling Phase) is the first approved post-STEP
program to be implemented in the coming years. It was presented at the June 1994 meetings in
Sendai, Japan, and approved by the SCOSTEP General Council as recommended by the Bureau. A
subcommittee reported to the Bureau in July 1995, recommending organization, terms, and
membership of an S-RAMP Steering Committee to begin the work of organizing this program to commence at
the end of STEP in 1997.
The proposal to SCOSTEP was: "SCOSTEP is invited to develop a 5-year data analysis and
modeling interval over the period 1998-2002, to facilitate the optimization of the study and analysis of
the data acquired during the STEP period 1990-1997. The major objectives should be:
The new SC should be considerably smaller than the STEP SC and should not be structured in
parallel with the present STEP organization. Of course, there will be a strong link and continuity
between S-RAMP and Working Group 6 (Informatics) of STEP. The S-RAMP SC is encouraged to
consider establishment of an International Coordination Office (ICO) to collect, assimilate and
distribute information about the data analysis, event intervals and/or phenomena selected for study,
and modeling efforts. Because it is unlikely that SCOSTEP will be able to support the cost of such
coordination, it will be important for the S-RAMP SC to consider how such an activity might be
funded. Other responsibilities may include: continued management of the STEP Data Catalogue;
development and maintenance of a file of S-RAMP participants (about 5000 are on the list for STEP);
monthly production of an electronic and, if possible, hard copy newsletter; maintenance of an
electronic S-RAMP Bulletin Board, and what assistance will be needed in collecting special databases
and making them available worldwide to S-RAMP participants (e.g., through interaction with the
World Data Centers for Solar-Terrestrial Physics.)
Nine scientists from a global mix of countries were invited to form the initial S-RAMP SC and
eight have confirmed acceptance. The Bureau invited Dr. Daniel Baker (USA) to be the interim
chairman until the SC can choose a person for that role. Others who have agreed to be members are:
S. Basu, B. Fraser, E. Friis-Christensen, Y. Kamide, A. Manson, H. Matsumoto, and G. Ya. Smolkov.
One other declined and the Bureau will designate another candidate.
Subsets of the SC will meet as opportunity offers during the months until summer 1996. It is
expected that most of the SC will meet in the London (UK) area (location and venue to be confirmed),
on 12-13 July 1996, during the week before COSPAR meets in Birmingham.
Japan has started to organize the S-RAMP study team; Prof. T. Araki (Kyoto University) has been
set to be the Chairman of the committee of the Japanese S-RAMP project. To find budgetary channels
is a significant problem, but they are extensively seeking for ways.
Pre-AGU Joint CEDAR-GEM Meeting
Greetings to all National Space Weather Initiative Investigators.
By now many of you know that a Pre-AGU joint CEDAR-GEM meeting is planned for 10
December 1995, from 4:30 - 6:30 PM at the Moscone Center, Rm 256, Boulder, CO.
I invite all investigators with data and/or model results for the November 3-11, 1993, event to plan
a brief presentation. I've seen several very interesting data sets over the last few months. I believe
there is much to be learned from this event.
Since I'm not sure what kind of response to expect I'm asking that you plan your presentation for
5-6 vu graphs or a short video clip. I will be showing a video of the YOHKOH imagery of the coronal
hole, put together by Alan McAllister. At this meeting I'd like to move from data "show and tell" to a
situation where we really begin to put the events of this storm in context. I'm hoping to arrange a
special session at next Spring's AGU for a more formal set of presentations and then a subsequent
special issue in GRL/JGR whichever is appropriate.
Please contact me if you plan to make presentation so that I can put an agenda together and plan
additional presentation time for investigators who have more substantial results.
Delores Knipp "This content in no way reflects the opinions, standards, or policy of the United States Air Force
Academy or the United States government."
Workshop on Solar Flares and Related Disturbances-A Special Session in the Solar-Terrestrial
Predictions Workshops
On 23-24 January 1996, at Hitachi, Japan, the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (STA)
will sponsor a workshop on solar flares and related disturbances. This is another in the long-standing
series of meetings on predicting Solar-Terrestrial disturbances. The aim of the workshop is to
summarize current ideas about the driving mechanisms of solar activity that are manifested as solar
flares and other coronal magnetic activities, and to foresee the future directions in which observations
and theoretical research should proceed. In two days of meetings they will cover: Flare energy build-
up; Trigger mechanisms and flare energy release; CME and other disturbances; Quiet corona and solar
wind; and Future plans. Proposals for papers were to have been submitted by November 15, 1995, to
Takashi Sakurai, Chairman SOC, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
(sakurai@spot.mtk.nao.ac.jp).
Registration forms were to be sent to Dr. M. Akioka, Hiraiso, Solar-Terrestrial Research Center,
Communi-cations Research Laboratory, 3601 Isozaki, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, 311-12 Japan
(akioka@crl.go.jp).
The previous workshop in this series was held in Ottawa, Canada, during May 1992, and others
have been in Leura, Australia; Meudon, France; and Boulder, USA. The workshops discuss how
solar-terrestrial predictions are made, the applications of predictions, and the need for predictions.
These are opportunities for in-depth inter-actions between forecasters, scientists, and prediction users.
An E-Mail copy of the second announcement is available from (nozaki@crl.go.jp) upon request.
Potential attendees are cautioned to allow adequate time over the holidays to acquire passport visa for
Japan if one is required from your country.
Second Annual Pre-College Education Workshop for Space Scientists
Carl Wuth circulated information about this workshop that will be held on the Boulder campus of
the University of Colorado during 18-21 February 1996. The main goal of the workshop is to
"produce a cadre of informed space scientists who can act as advocates for effective science education
and to increase the effectiveness of the education activities presently underway in the space science
community."
There is a $200 registration fee that includes a reception and evening banquet. Conference
materials (source book included), continental breakfasts, coffee breaks and luncheons are subsidized
by a NASA grant.
The deadline for applications for information was November 15, 1995, but if you are very
interested, you may contact Carl at the following address:
STEP WG-1 (The Sun as a Source of Energy and Disturbance)Workshop on Measurements and
Analyses of the 3-D Solar Magnetic Field
A second announcement and call for abstracts for this meeting, to be held in Huntsville, Alabama,
April 9-11, 1996, has been distributed electronically. The source address is: stepwg1@csparc.uah.edu.
Probably paper copies could be requested from the organizers. Prof. S. T. Wu is on the organizing
committee and is local host. The 2nd announcement includes a registration form and information
about limited travel support that is available for selected applicants who return a request before
January 31, 1996.
4th COLAGE: Fourth Latin American Conference on Space Geophysics
The 4th COLAGE will be held April 22 - 26, 1996, at Tucuman, Argentina. SCOSTEP is a co-
sponsor, together with IAGA, IPGH, CLAP, COSPAR, ICTP, INVAP, CONICET, and ALAGE.
The results of STEP and Antarctica research will be included in reviews, lectures and poster
sessions. Among the invited speakers are Takeo Kosugi, Marcos Machado, Horm Moraal, Sandro
Radicella, Juan Roederer, David Sentman, and Jose H. A. Sobral.
The city of San Miguel de Tucuman is a historic site 1300 km from Buenos Aires in the scenic
"Garden of the Republic" of Argentina.
For more information, contact the Local Organizing Committee:
Third International Conference on Substorms (ISC-3)
Alain Roux has announced that ISC-3 will be held at Versailles, France, from 13-17 May 1996. It
will be sponsored by ESA, CNES, and the University of Versailles-St. Quentin. The main session
topics are:
For more information contact:
The deadline for abstracts is January 15, 1996: registration deadline is March 15, 1996. One-page
abstracts should be sent to Ms. Nicole Dupin at the above address. Her E-Mail address is:
nicole.dupin@cetp.ispl.fr
SCOSTEP Bureau, STEP SC and S-RAMP SC to meet in London area
Members of the SCOSTEP Bureau will meet in the greater London (UK) area at a location yet to
be specified during some days in July 1996 (in the week before the COSPAR General Assembly in
Birmingham.) If we succeed in scheduling the events as suggested last July in Boulder, then the
Bureau will meet on Thursday, 11 July, and hold a closing meeting on Sunday, 14 July. The STEP
Steering Committee will meet on Friday, 13 July, and half-day on Saturday, 14th. The S-RAMP
Steering Committee will meet a half-day on the 14th separate from the STEP SC. Possibly the newly
approved post-STEP programs EATVIP (Equatorial Atmosphere Transport and Variation International
Program), and PSMOS (Planetary-Scale Mesopause Observing System) subcommittees will also meet
during these days.
International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy
The 8th Scientific Assembly of IAGA will be held in Uppsala, Sweden, during the two weeks of
August 4-15, 1997. Division and Commission Chairs are planning to convene 77 separate symposia --
some of them lasting for 3 days. Scientifically, the sessions will cover the range of purview of IAGA,
from solid earth geomagnetism through atmospheric and space physics, including a commemorative
lecture on the contributions of Hannes Alfvén. Invited reviews of important topics and contributed
papers revealing the most recent research results are expected to encourage discussions and inspire
new scientific studies and collaborations.
During the first week, the Solar-Terrestrial Physics (STP) Symposium of SCOSTEP (Scientific
Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics) will be held in conjunction with the IAGA Sessions. The
International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) will also convene and
participate in joint scientific sessions during this two-week period, further enhancing the scientific
value of the Assembly.
Uppsala is easy to reach directly from the nearby (40 km) Stockholm/Arlanda international airport,
served by major airlines. Alternatively, Uppsala can be reached by train via Stockholm. Uppsala is a
friendly town with the atmosphere of an old university in a modern environment.
The city has about 160,000 inhabitants and the University has about 20,000 students. The
meetings will be held in central Uppsala in university halls and a nearby school. Several hotels and
some student rooms will be available. The city has many restaurants and the surrounding countryside
will attract excursions.
The local organization will be handled by representatives of the Uppsala Division of the Swedish
Institute of Space Physics (Rolf Bostrom, Anita Rogelius, Gunny Janzon), Uppsala University (Laust
Borsting Pedersen, Viktor Scuka) and the Swedish Geological Survey (Birna Olafsdottir). Information on the IAGA 1997 Scientific Assembly and the local arrangements will gradually be
made available on the World Wide Web (http://www.irfu.se/iaga_97.html). An Assembly Circular
inviting participation will be mailed early in 1996. The local organizers can also be reached by E-Mail:
iaga@irfu.se or by FAX (46 18) 40 31 00.
Ninth Quadrennial STP Symposium Uppsala, Sweden
Each four years SCOSTEP has organized an international symposium to review progress in Solar-
Terrestrial Physics disciplines in the period since the previous meeting. Eight such symposia have
taken place and are documented in their proceedings and in journal papers arising from the talks.
Previously, many of these symposia were held in conjunction with every other biennial COSPAR
General Assembly; however, the 1994 meeting was held independently in Sendai, Japan. With a shift
in timing, the next symposium will be in conjunction with the 8th IAGA Scientific Assembly and the
IAMAS-Middle Atmosphere Symposium in Uppsala, Sweden, during 4-8 August 1997 (the IAGA
meeting runs from 4-15 August.)
The SCOSTEP Bureau will meet in Uppsala before the start of the scientific meetings, as will also
the S-RAMP Steering Committee and probably the steering committees of other Post-STEP programs.
The SCOSTEP General Council will meet on Saturday, 9 August 1997. A wrap-up Bureau meeting
will take place during the week following the General Council meeting.
A program committee is working on plans for the 9th STP Symposium. Its Chairman is
SCOSTEP President, Prof. C.-H. Liu.
1995
1996
1997
akipling@sel.noaa.gov
for posting on the WWW and the "majordomo" list server which provides E-Mail answerback
services.
get solcoord observing_report.form
to the address: majordomo@sel.noaa.gov.
get solcoord spartan95.info
to the address: majordomo@sel.noaa.gov
get solcoord spartan95.pointing
to the same address.
The following is a short synopsis of our quick look of the Spartan 201-3 UVCS data. We have just
reviewed the quick-look data from the Spartan 201-3 flight on Space Shuttle Mission STS-69.
Apparently we have 25 orbits of solar coronal observations of the 27 planned. The last two orbits
were lost due to a premature End-of-Mission shutdown of the spacecraft experiments; however, more
than 90 percent of the anticipated data was recorded on the flight tapes.
E-Mail contact: kharvey@noao.edu
to the address: majordomo@sel.noaa.gov
to the same address.
E-Mail contacts: schmieder@obspm.fr
or lvdriel@obspm.fr
to the address: majordomo@sel.noaa.gov
E-Mail contact: kreardon@akala.ifa.hawaii.edu
WWW information: http://galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu/~kreardon/eclipse.html
see also
http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/sdac.html
to the address: majordomo@sel.noaa.gov
President of SCOSTEP
SCOSTEP BUREAU AWARDS $40K OF SUPPLEMENTARY STEP
GRANTS
A new Steering Committee (not the same as the STEP SC) was to be created at the earliest possible
time to formulate objectives of the S-RAMP program and to propose to the Bureau how these
objectives should be achieved.
FORTHCOMING MEETINGS
Tel. (719) 472-3510
FAX (719) 472-3182
knipp@ncar.ucar.edu
Carl Wuth
Space Science Institute
1234 Innovation Drive, Suite 294
Boulder, CO 80303-7814
Tel. (303) 492-3774
FAX (303) 492-3789
E-Mail wuth@colorado.edu
The Space Science Institute is on the WWW at the following address: http://www-ssi.colorado.edu/.
Dr. Nieves Ortiz de Adler
Lab. de Ionosfera - Inst. de Fisica
Universidad Nacional de Tucuman
Av. Independencia 1800
4000 Tucuman, Argentina
Tel. (54-81) 24 21 66
FAX (54-81) 24 21 66 or 24 80 25
E-Mail colage@liifut.edu.ar
Dr. Alain Roux
C.E.T.P., 10-12 Avenue de l'Europe
78140 Velizy, France
Tel. (33 1) 39 25 48 90
FAX (33 1) 39 25 48 87
E-Mail alain.roux@cetp.ispl.fr
CALENDAR OF EVENTS