SCOSTEP/PRESTONEWSLETTER
Vol. 21, December 2019

Inside this issue

Article 1:

Article 1:
SCOSTEP Executives and Bureau
Members

1

Article 2:
Message from the Newly Elected
SCOSTEP President

2

Article 3:
Transition of the Office of the Scientific Secretary

3

Article 4:
Bureau Meeting Report

4

Article 5:
SCOSTEP Mailing Lists

6

Article 6:
SCOSTEP Visiting Scholarship (SVS)
Program7

Meeting Report 1:
Capacity Building and Outreach
Activities

9

Meeting Report 2:
The International Space Weather
Initiative Workshop (ISWI)

9

Meeting Report 3:
The VarSITI Completion General
Symposium 201910

Meeting Report 4:
4th Edition of the School of Space
Weather IMAO,
Senegal, Africa

10

Meeting Report 5:
International Beacon Satellite Symposium, Olsztyn, Poland

11

Meeting Report 6:
VarSITI Summarizing Workshop

12

Upcoming Meetings

13

Announcement 1:
SCOSTEP’s 15th Quadrennial SolarTerrestrial Physics Symposium (STP15), Alibag, India February 21-25,
2022

14

Announcement 2:
Predictability of the Variable SolarTerrestrial Coupling (PRESTO)

14

Announcement 3:
152020 SCOSTEP Distinguished Scientist and Service Awards

SCOSTEP Executives and Bureau
Members
Kazuo Shiokawa
Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE),
Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanT

he elections for the new SCOSTEPExecutives took place during the
IUGG assembly in Montreal, Canada on
July 13, 2019. Dr. Kazuo Shiokawa, ofNagoya University in Japan, was elected
President. Professor Daniel March, of the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (USA) and the University of Leeds(UK) was elected Vice President. Dr. Nat
Gopalswamy, who served SCOSTEP as
President since 2011, will continue toserve as Past-President. Patricia Doherty,of Boston College, was appointed as the
Scientific Secretary on July 1, 2019.

T

he SCOSTEP Bureau is comprisedof the Executives together with rep-

Kazuo
Shiokawa

resentatives of participating organizations. The representatives are appointed
by the Secretary General of their organizations. For the quadrennial beginning inJuly 2019, the bureau members include:
Kazuo Shiokawa (President), Daniel
Marsh (Vice President), Nat Gopalswamy(Past President), Patricia Doherty(Scientific Secretary, ex-officio), Yoshizumi Miyoshi (COSPAR), Renata
Lukianova (IAGA/IUGG), Peter
Pilewskie (IAMAS), Kyung-Suk Cho(IAU), and Prasad Subramanian(IUPAP), Annika Seppälä (SCAR), Jorge
Chau (URSI), Aude Chambodut (WDS).

President
Kazuo Shiokawa

Vice-President
Daniel Marsh

Past President
Nat Gopalswamy

Scientific Secretary
Patricia Doherty

COSPAR
Yoshizumi Miyoshi

IAGA
Renata Lukianova

IAMASPeter Pilewski

IAU
Kyung-Suk Cho

IUPAP
Prasad Subramanian

SCAR
Annika Seppälä

URSI
Jorge L. Chau

ISC-WDS
Aude Chambodut

Figure 1. The 2019-2022 SCOSTEP Bureau.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21

Article

Article 2:

Message from the Newly Elected SCOSTEP President

Highlight on Young Scientists

Kazuo Shiokawa
Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE),
Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanI

Meeting Reportt is really honorable for me to serve as the Presidentof SCOSTEP. I will do my best to serve various
SCOSTEP efforts to promote solar terrestrial physics(STP). The scientific field of solar-terrestrial physics is
rapidly changing, mainly because of expansion of human activities into space and because of growing interest in Earth’s climate change. The original scientificinterest and knowledge are going to be applied to various applications, as represented by the terminologies of“space weather” (short-term variability) and “space climate” (long-term variability). In this sense, various
efforts have been made in recent years (1) to understandthe physical mechanisms that cause the observed phenomena and (2) to predict the phenomena that affects
human life. For this understanding and prediction of thevariability of the sun-earth system, the connection fromthe sun to the earth, and from the earth surface to the
middle and upper atmosphere, and to geospace is ofessential importance.

U

Upcoming Meetingsnder the International Science Council (ISC),SCOSTEP is the only organization to deal withthis sun-earth connection. I will serve on this point toencourage more communication among scientists indifferent disciplines and regions from the sun to theearth. I would like to encourage this communication by
operating mailing lists, the website, and newsletters, aswell as promoting interdisciplinary symposia, conferences and workshops under SCOSTEP. The participating bodies of SCOSTEP consist of COSPAR, IAU,IUGG (IAGA and IAMAS), IUPAP, SCAR, URSI, and
WDS. This structure of SCOSTEP also allows coordination of the wide scientific area related to solarterrestrial physics. I would like to stimulate collaboration with these participating bodies by promoting joint
sessions and symposia.

T
Announcement2

he uniqueness of SCOSTEP is to launch international / interdisciplinary multi-year programs on
the sun-earth relationship, such as CAWSES, CAWSES-II and VarSITI. This is very different from other participating bodies of SCOSTEP. Through this program,
SCOSTEP can address the changing situation of thesolar-terrestrial system, providing a timely platform forthe community to work together. The VarSITISCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21

Kazuo
Shiokawa(Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact, 20142018) focused on the decreasing trend of solar activities
and its consequences on earth. The next program,
PRESTO – PREdictability of variable Solar-Terrestrial
cOupling, is a timely topic for our community due tothe increasing interest on the effect of the variability on
human activity in space and on earth’s climate. This
direction will also introduce new possibilities for collaboration with the community of space use and applications. I think SCOSTEP should encourage such collaboration, for example, with the International Space
Weather Initiative (ISWI) of the United Nations (UN)Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(COPUOS) and other bodies related to space use andclimate change.

Through my past experiences of field measurements
and school organizations in developing countries, I
feel that governments in developing countries are gradually understanding the importance of space weather
research. This is due to their increased use of satellite
signals for communication and navigation applications
with the awareness that ionospheric plasma bubbles candegrade these systems significantly. Under these circumstances, capacity building activities led by
SCOSTEP are getting more important for young scientists in the developing countries. SCOSTEP will continue to encourage more capacity-building activities, bycoordinating/supporting international schools, operating
the SCOSTEP visiting scholar (SVS) programs for students and young scientists, and distributing a comicseries on solar-terrestrial sciences.

F

inally, I would like to point out the importance of
database construction and open data policies in solar-terrestrial physics. Since solar-terrestrial physics
deals with global-scale phenomena and relies significantly on remote-sensing and in-situ techniques; international collaboration and exchange of various different
types of data are essentially important to understand thephysical mechanisms of the phenomena. In that sense,
we encourage development of user-friendly databases
and data analysis tools as well as efforts of keeping long-term data quality in collaboration with the World Data
System (WDS).

Article

Article 3:

Transition of the Office of the Scientific Secretary
Patricia Doherty
Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College,
Boston, MA, USA

am honored to have been appointed as the Scientific
Secretary of SCOSTEP. SCOSTEP’s dedication tooutreach and capacity building together with exceptional excellence in scientific programs such as CAWSES,CAWSES-II and VarSITI are activities that I have admired for quite some time. Having both a scientificbackground in space weather and considerable outreachand management experience, I look forward to using myskills to support and advance SCOSTEP over the next
quadrennial.

OAt this time, I have assumed the financial and administrative responsibilities of SCOSTEP. With
support from my colleagues at Boston College, we havedeveloped mailing lists for various committees and
SCOSTEP participants. We have also established a new
website based at Boston College (www.bc.edu/scostep).
I have opened a nonprofit corporation based in Massachusetts and I am working to gain non-profit status forfederal tax purposes. I have also reached out to our National Adherent Representatives and Participating bodies to assure that we are in good communication. Finally, the first SCOSTEP Bureau meeting with the newleadership was held in Boston in September. It waswonderful to talk with the many experts supporting
SCOSTEP.

I

look forward to working with all the participants of
SCOSTEP. Please contact me at any time if you
have any questions or suggestions. I can be reached at:
Patricia.Doherty_at_bc.edu.

Meeting Reportver the last six months, I have worked closely with
Dr. Marianna Shepherd to transfer the secretariat’s
office from York University in Toronto, Canada to Boston College in the USA. Dr. Shepherd has done an outstanding job of supporting SCOSTEP as Scientific Secretary from 2010 to mid-2019. She has guided me andshared so much of her expertise in numerous meetings,
phone calls and emails over the last 6 months. I thankher personally for her gentle guidance during this transition.

Highlight on Young Scientists

I

Patricia Doherty

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 213

Article

Article 4:

Bureau Meeting Report

Highlight on Young Scientists

K. Shiokawa1 and P.Doherty2
1Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE),
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
2Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College, Boston, MA, USAT

he first meeting of the SCOSTEP Bureau meetingwith new members was held at Boston College,
USA, on September 11, 2019. Members shown in the
picture below were on-site, while other members attended via WebEx (Renata Lukianova, Annika Seppälä,
Prasad Subramanian, and Peter Pilewskie). Jorge Chauand Aude Chambodut were not able to attend due toother commitments. With 9 of the 11 members of thebureau participating in the meeting, a majority quorum
was achieved. The agenda and minutes from the lastbureau meeting were provided to the bureau in advanceof the meeting.

●

Patricia Doherty

Kazuo
Shiokawa

Financial Report

The proposed and actual budgets for SCOSTEP in theyears 2016 through 2019 with a proposed budget for2020 was presented. Patricia Doherty pointed out that
SCOSTEP’s income is limited to the adherent country
subscriptions with a total of $110,000 anticipated eachyear. At this time, there are a number of the adherents
with unpaid subscriptions for 2019. Patricia will contact
the adherent representatives to bring things up to date.
Additional discussion included that we should try toincrease the number of adherent countries for
SCOSTEP. The income and expenses of 2018-2020 arereported and approved.

Meeting Report●

Status of the SCOSTEP Visiting Scholar (SVS)
program

Discussion on the SVS program included assigning abudget of $10,000 to the program for 2020. Additional
discussion was related to the eligibility to apply for the
SVS opportunity. In the past, it was limited to students
and young scientists from developing countries.
After bureau member discussion, the bureau approved
the following motion.
●

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
4

Figure 1. On-site attendees of SCOSTEP Bureau
members on September 11, 2019. From left to right,
Kyung-Suk Cho, Daniel Marsh, Patricia Doherty, Kazuo
Shiokawa, Nat Gopalswamy, and Yoshizumi Miyoshi.

Bureau discussions included:●

Introduction of the new President, Vice President,
Secretary, and Bureau members●

Approval of the minutes from previous Bureau
meeting of May 7, 2019●

Action items from previous Bureau meeting●

Eighteen action items from the previous Bureau
meeting were checked. Some are transferred to theaction items of the current Bureau.

●

An update on the transition of the Scientific Secretary’s office from Marianna Shepherd of York
University to Patricia Doherty at Boston College
was discussed. A full update is provided in Section 3 of this newsletter.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21●

The SVS program be open to all countries but with
an emphasis on developing countries.
The program will be limited to Masters and PhD
students with the requirement that the recipient has
not received a PhD at the time of application to theprogram.

The list of hosts for the SVS program was also displayed. There are currently 13 institutions listed in support of the SVS program. Two hosts have provided
letters or signed MoUs describing their commitment to
the program. Bureau decided to contact the SVS hosts
with a request to provide a letter of commitment.
More information on the SVS program for 2020 is included in Article 6 of this newsletter.
●

PRESTOPRESTO (PREdictability of the variable SolarTerrestrial cOupling) is the next SCOSTEP scientificprogram. The detailed PRESTO presentation is available at:
http://www.issibj.ac.cn/Publications/
Forum_Reports/201404/
W020190620592906717714.pdf

Pillar 1. Sun, interplanetary space and geospace
Pillar 2. Space weather and the Earth’s atmosphere
Pillar 3. Solar activity and its influence on the climate of
the Earth System
●

●

●

●

The Bureau also discussed that PRESTO represents
Solar-terrestrial science for the benefit of humanity, and decided the mission of PRESTO as “To
identify predictability of the variable solarterrestrial coupling performance metrics throughmodeling, measurements, and data analysis and tostrengthen the communication between scientists
and users”.
At this meeting, significant discussion was dedicated to the selection of the candidates of PRESTO
chairs and the co-leaders of the 3 Pillars. It was
proposed to invite 1 chair and 2 co-chairs for the
PRESTO program. The bureau also discussed possible candidates for the Pillar co-leaders. A list of
candidates was assembled for discussion with the
PRESTO chairs.
It was discussed that we all should promote PRESTO sessions at upcoming meetings such as ESWW,NOAA-SWW, AOSWA, ISWI, and others. This
will also be a prime task of the co-chairs and Pillar
co-leaders.
Finally, it was suggested that a SCOSTEP/PRESTO introductory video be created. This will
have to wait for the appointment of PRESTO
chairs and Pillar co-leaders.
SCOSTEP Committees●●

Finance Committee: The SCOSTEP Pr esident
invited Daniel March and Yoshizumi Miyoshi toserve as the Finance Committee. They accepted
this role.

The Bureau agreed that SCOSTEP mailing lists should
be developed to facilitate communication for SCOSTEP
committees and general membership. These mailinglists are to be developed with the support of Boston College. They should include mailing lists for bureau members and executives; national adherent representatives;scientific discipline representatives and a general mailing list that includes all SCOSTEP participants. The
general mailing list will be moderated by the President
and/or Scientific Secretary. Details on the mailing list
are provided in Article 5 of this report.
●

SVS Selection Committee: The Bureau pr oposed the candidates of the SVS Selection Committee members. After the Bureau meeting, thefollowing scientists were agreed to act as the SVS

WebpageA new Website has been developed: www.bc.edu/
scostep. Information from the previous SCOSTEP website in York University, Canada was transferred to thissite. More updates are needed and in-progress.
●

Newsletter and PRESTO Newsletter

The Bureau decided to combine the SCOSTEP and
PRESTO Newsletter. Mai Asakura of ISEE, Nagoya
University, (former secretary of VarSITI Newsletter)has offered to design a new format for the combined
newsletter.
●
●

●

●

Mailing Lists●

Capacity Building Activities
Currently SCOSTEP supports a number of schools
with about $2000 each. However, the procedure
for application is not well defined. After much discussion, the Bureau decided to develop a formal
procedure for school support applications and to
consider a SCOSTEP/PRESTO school in 2022.

Announcement

Awards Selection Committee: At the last bur eau
meeting, the candidates were nominated. After the
Bureau meeting, the following scientists wereagreed to act as the Award Selection Committee
members, and the appointment letter was sent tothem with for a tenure of four years: Marina
Battaglia (chair), Sami Solanki, Ryoichi Fujii, Robert Sych, Nandita Srivastava, Clara Yatini and Jan
Lastovicka.

●

Membership Committee for Adherents: This isa new committee proposed to enhance the adherent
country membership for SCOSTEP. The need for
new adherents was discussed earlier in this bureau
meeting. Members of this committee may include
all bureau members including the scientific secretary. The selection of the Membership Committee
member candidates is on-going after the Bureau.

Upcoming Meetings

As all of the committee memberships expired with the
new leadership of SCOSTEP, the committees were discussed with suggestions for new appointments and newcommittees.

●

Meeting Report●

The Bureau decided to change the interval for
PRESTO from 2019–2023 to 2020-2024.

Nominating Committee: This is a new committee proposed and accepted at the last bureau. The
purpose of the committee is to provide nominees
for the SCOSTEP Awards to revive Honorary
Member appointments. The selection of the Nomination Committee member candidates are on-goingafter the Bureau.

Highlight on Young Scientists●●

ArticleSelection Committee members, and the appointment letter was sent to them with for a tenure offour years: John Raymond (chair), Thierry Dudok
de Wit, Emilia Kilpua, Irina Mironova, Ivan Dorotovič, Ayman Mahrous and Alejandro Lara

PRESTO is comprised of 3 Pillars:

It was also suggested that SCOSTEP collaborate
with ISWI schools. ISWI will host a school in India in 2020.
It was also suggested that we create post cards thatadvertise the comic books and provide a link to

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 215

download them.

Article●New Scientific Discipline Representatives (SDRs)

SCOSTEP currently has over 60 Scientific Discipline
Representatives. Nearly half of them have completed 8
years of service and will rotate off. The Bureau willconsider replacements for the retiring SDRs.
●

SCOSTEP and UN/COPUOS

Highlight on Young Scientists

UN/COPUOS is the UN Committee on the PeacefulUses of Outer Space. It was discussed that the President, or another representative of SCOSTEP, should
join the UN scientific and technical subcommittee(STSC) in February 2020 to give a statement on theactivities of SCOSTEP.
●

STP-15 Preparations

The next STP meeting will be held on February 21-25,
2022 in Alibag, India. The Local organizing chair is
Dr. S. Gurubaran of the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism. Bureau members were asked to include the STP-15 into the meeting calendars of their organizations.
The Bureau agreed to assign $20K for seed funding to
the STP-15 LOC.
Donation System Development●

Bureau agreed to receive donations to support
SCOSTEP activities. This can include donations to
support young scientists at conferences. We could
make it simple on the website to receive a donation.
We can also establish a scholarship with a donor’s
name. When appropriate system is established, we will
announce it to the community.
Schedule of Bureau and General Council Meetings●

Discussion was included to determine the best time andplace for future bureau and general council meetings.
We would like to host these meetings to facilitate participation by the full bureau. It will be decided after
receiving preferences from Bureau members.

Article 5:

Meeting Report

SCOSTEP Mailing Lists
Patricia Doherty
Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College,
Boston, MA, USAA
Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
6s described in the Bureau report (Article 4), mailing lists have been established to facilitate communication with the various committees and all
SCOSTEP participants. Mailing lists for the bureau
members, national adherent representatives and scientific discipline representatives have been finalized andmembers have been notified on the use of those lists.
These lists are primarily for communication of themembers involved. They include:●

Scostep-bureau_at_listserv.bc.edu - for Bureau
Members●

Scostep-adherents_at_listserv.bc.edu- for National
Adherent Representatives●

Scostep-sdr_at_listserv.bc.edu - for Scientific Discipline Representatives

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21

Patricia Doherty●

A general mailing list that includes all of the above
together with all former participants of VarSITI
and SCOSTEP is: scostep-all_at_listserv.bc.edu

TT

o send a message to members of this list, simply
type the following address in the “To” box of youremail platform: scostep-all_at_listserv.bc.edu
he submitted e-mail will be moderated by the
SCOSTEP President and/or Scientific Secretary,and distributed to the registered members of SCOSTEP.
Currently, there are approximately 1000 STP scientists
subscribed to this mailing list.

To subscribe/unsubscribe to the scostepall_at_listserv.bc.edu mailing list, please send email to the SCOSTEP Secretariat, Patricia Doherty(patricia.doherty_at_bc.edu) with your name, affiliation,and topic of interest.

Article 6:

ArticleSCOSTEP Visiting Scholarship (SVS) Program
Patricia Doherty (SCOSTEP Scientific Secretary)
Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College,
Boston, MA, USA

he SCOSTEP Visiting Scholar (SVS) program isthriving. In 2019, there were 10 SVS awards. Nine
recipients, shown below, are studying with their hosts at
various participating institutions. One recipient was notable to accept the award due to other commitments.

At the Bureau meeting held in September at Boston
College, the Bureau voted to dedicate $10,000 to
the SVS program in 2020. The Bureau also voted tomodify the eligibility requirements for applications tothis very competitive program. The changes are described below:
he SVS program will be open to all countries butwith an emphasis on developing countries.

not received a PhD at the time of application to the program.

TT

he full requirements together with the application
procedure and list of host laboratories are available
on the website: www.bc.edu/scostep/program/SVS/.
his is a very competitive program of SCOSTEP.
As such, we invite worldwide laboratories to consider hosting students in the future. SCOSTEP provides
the airfare for SVS awardees. The host laboratory is
responsible for living expenses, visa fees, and other incidentals. For more information, contact Dr. Kazuo
Shiokawa (shiokawa_at_nagoya-u.jp) or Patricia
Doherty (Patricia.Doherty_at_bc.edu).

he program will be limited to Masters and PhD
students with the requirement that the recipient has

Meeting Report

T
T

Highlight on Young Scientists

T

Patricia Doherty

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement

Figure 1. SVS 2019 Recipients

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 217

Article

The following is the recently issued Call for Applications for the 2020 SVS Program.

Dear Colleagues,
The submission of applications for the 2020 SCOSTEPVisiting Scholar (SVS) scholarship is now open.

Highlight on Young Scientists

The SCOSTEP Visiting Scholar (SVS) program is a
capacity building activity of SCOSTEP (ScientificCommittee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics), which willcomplement SCOSTEP's new scientific program(PRESTO) and public outreach activities.
SCOSTEP's scientific program, VarSITI (Variability of
the Sun and its Terrestrial Impact), ended in 2018. The
new scientific program, PRESTO (Predictability of Variable Solar-Terrestrial Coupling), will begin in 2020 for
a 5-year duration. The mission of PRESTO is to identify
predictability of the variable solar-terrestrial coupling
and its performance metrics through modeling, measurements, and data analysis, and to strengthen the communication between scientists and users.

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings

The objective of the SVS program is to provide training
to graduate students in well-established solar terrestrial
physics institutes, for periods of one to three months.
The training will help the awardees advance in theircareer in solar-terrestrial physics using the technique/skill they learned during the training. SCOSTEP will
provide the airfare, while the host institute will provide
the living expenses (accommodation, sustenance,
ground transportation, visa fees, and other incidentals).
Trainees should have their own health insurance or arrange a provision with the host institution.
Note that the eligibility requirements for the SVS program have changed. The new program is now open to

Announcement
8

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21

applicants from all countries but with an emphasis on
applicants from developing countries. The program islimited to Masters and PhD students with the requirement that the recipient has not received a PhD at thetime of application to the program.
Interested candidates should contact one of the SVS
program hosts; develop a project and work out the details of the visit. Once the applicant and host agree on avisit, the applicant needs to prepare an application package including the following details of the visit:
1) a 2-page proposal of the work to be performed as an
SVS awardee2) applicant's curriculum vitae - including expected dateof graduation
3) dates of the proposed visit
4) letter of recommendation from the applicant's supervisor - with verification on the applicant's eligibility5) letter from the host scientist/institution indicating thatthe work will be mutually beneficial
Send a single pdf file with all of the above to
SCOSTEP's Scientific Secretary, Patricia Doherty(patricia.doherty_at_bc.edu). Deadline for applications is February 21, 2020.
Please contact the host institution well before this deadline, to enable full consideration of your application.
Click to following link for a list of SVS host institutions:
https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/research/sites/
institute-for-scientific-research/research/SCOSTEP/
scostep--programs/scostep--svs.html

Capacity Building andOutreach Activities

African Geophysical Society (AGS) Conference onSpace Weather, Cairo Egypt, March 25-28, 2019●

International Space Weather Initiative Workshop,
Trieste, Italy, May 20-24, 2019●

VarSITI Closing Symposium, Sofia, Bulgaria, June
10-16, 2019●

Towards Future Research on Space Weather: Concepts and Tools, San Juan, Argentina, July 2-7, 2019●

Seventh Space Climate Symposium, Quebec, Canada, July 8-11, 2019●

Beacon Satellite Symposium, Olsztyn, Poland, August 19-23, 2019●

IRI Workshop, Frederick University in Nicosia, Cyprus, September 2-13, 2019●

4th Edition of the School of Space Weather IMAO(ICTP-Maghreb Afrique de L-Ouest), Senegal, Africa, October 15-25, 2019

Patricia DohertyAnumber of workshops and schools have been supported by SCOSTEP in 2019. The funds for these
activities are primarily used to support travel and subsistence for participants in developing nations. The
activities held in 2019 to date include:

Highlight on Young Scientists

Patricia Doherty
Institute for Scientific Research(ISR), Boston College,
Boston, MA, USA●

ArticleMeeting Report 1:

Meeting Report 2:

Bruno Nava
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP),
Trieste, Italy

Meeting Report

The International Space
Weather Initiative
Workshop (ISWI)

Bruno Nava

SWI, established in 2009, has proved to provide aframework for collaboration between teams of scientists, serving as an example of remarkable international
work in instrument operation, data collection, analysis
and publication of scientific results. ISWI has established a platform for bottom-up approach in order toproduce space weather literate communities, particularly developing nations, and to work together as a network sharing ideas, information and data, and to create
joint projects.

T(vi) space weather effects; (vii) international agency
space weather activities; (viii) outreach and education;and many more. Overall 62 oral presentations and 36
posters were presented.

A

total of 115 scientists from 47 countries attended
the workshop. Sponsors included ISWI, ICTP,
Boston College, the International Committee on Global
Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), ESA, SCOSTEP,
the IUGG and the National Space Research and Development Agency of Nigeria. SCOSTEP support provided travel and subsistence for two young scientists fromdeveloping countries.

Announcement

he most recent workshop, held in May 2019 at theAbdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical
Physics, included a rich and varied program with a kickoff talk provided by Dr. Dan Baker of the University ofColorado on Global Response to Space Weather. Technical sessions included presentations on (i) space weather instrumentation and data (ii) space weather modeling(iii) regional space weather studies; (iv) solar physics;(v) magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling;

Upcoming Meetings

I

Figure 1. Group Photo of Participants.

The presentations made at this workshop can be accessed on the following link:
http://indico.ictp.it/event/8682/

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 219

Article

Meeting Report 3:

The VarSITI Completion
General Symposium
2019

Highlight on Young Scientists

Katya Georgieva
Space Research and Technologies
Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

Katya
Georgieva
Figure 1. Group Photo of Participants.

V

arSITI Completion General Symposium was heldin Sofia, Bulgaria from 10 to 14 June 2019. It was
attended by 98 participants from 24 countries. The symposium covered the following topics:●

Mechanisms of solar variability and its Earthaffecting manifestations

Meeting Report●

Long-term solar variability and its impacts on the
heliosphere and the terrestrial system including solar
wind, geomagnetic field, and Earth's climate (Space
climate)●Short-term solar variability and Earth-affecting
events, and the reaction of the terrestrial system tosolar/heliospheric drivers (Space weather)●

Coupling between the Earth's atmosphere and space

under quiet or active Sun●

Sun-Earth related data: definition, maintenance, archiving●

Predictability of the Variable Solar-Terrestrial Coupling (PreSTo): The science behind.

TThe presentations are freely available online at the
symposium’s web site http://newserver.stil.bas.bg/
VarSITI2019/.
he proceeding will be published in a special issue
of a JASTP which is also open for contributions on
new and interdisciplinary scientific results related tothis 5-year VarSITI program.

Meeting Report 4:

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement10

4th Edition of the School ofSpace Weather IMAO,
Senegal, Africa
I. Gaye1 and C. Amory-Mazaudier2, 3
1University of Thiès, Thiès, Senegal
2LPP, CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/Sorbonne Université/Université Paris-Sud/Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France
3T/ICT4D Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italy

Figure 1. Group Photo from IMAO Workshop.

T

he courses were focused on the Physics of the Sun,
the Magnetosphere and the Ionosphere, the Atmosphere / Ionosphere / Magnetosphere and Geomagnetism
couplings, but also on Climate Modeling, Ocean Dynamics and the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The faculty team consisted of professors from thefollowing countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’IvIdrissa Gaye
Christine
Amory-Mazaudier oire, France, Morocco, Senegal, USA.

T

he IMAO 2019 Space Weather School aimed tostrengthen the capacities of young researchers,
Master 2 students and PhD students from the Maghreb
and West Africa in all the scientific disciplines concerned by ‘Space Weather’.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 213

3 participants came from 13 countries from Maghreb, West Africa, Central and East Africa:
Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire,France, Guinea Conakry, Morocco, Nigeria, RC, DRC,
Rwanda and Senegal.

T

he report of the school is on the website https://www.girgea.org.

Article

Meeting Report 5:

International Beacon
Satellite Symposium,
Olsztyn, Poland

Highlight on Young Scientists

Andrzej Krankowski
University of Warmia and Mazury
in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland

Andrzej
KrankowskiTThis most recent BSS symposium was a great success with many sessions dedicated to space weather
characteristics and effects; monitoring the ionosphereand space weather with ground and space-based receivers, radio occultation techniques and measurements,
advances in ionospheric modeling and much more.

T

he opening session included welcome remarks bylocal Olsztyn officials, Dr. Andrzej Krankowski

Figure 1. Group Photo of Participants.

(Chair of the LOC) and Patricia Doherty (URSI, Commission G Chair and Chair of the Beacon Satellite Studies Group). Session descriptions, abstracts and the program can be viewed at the symposium website:
bss2019.uwm.edu.pl. A special section with papers
presented in this symposium will be produced in theRadio Science Journal.

Meeting Reporthe 19th International Beacon Satellite Symposium(BSS2019) was held at the University of Warmia
and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland on 19-23 August, 2019.
The BSS symposia are the primary event held triennially by the Beacon Satellite Group of the International
Union of Radio Scientists (URSI) Commission G. The
Beacon satellite group is interdisciplinary, servicing
science, research, application and engineering interests.
These interests include all aspects of satellite signals
observed on the ground and by receivers on-board satellites. These meetings provide unique opportunities forionospheric scientists from all over the world to meetand collaborate on the ionospheric effects on radio
propagation and space weather.

This event included over 140 scientists from 32
countries. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, including SCOSTEP, NSF, URSI, ICG, Boston
College and the University of Warmia and Mazury, approximately 50 participants from developing countries
received some level of scholarship to defray the cost of
their participation in the prestigious event.

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 2111

Article

Meeting Report 6:

VarSITI Summarizing
WorkshopHighlight on Young Scientists

K. Shiokawa1 and K. Georgieva2
1Center for International Collaborative Research(CICR), Institute for Space-Earth Environmental
Research (ISEE), Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
2Space Research and Technology Institute (SRTI),
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria

Figure 1. Participants of the VatSITI Summarizing
Workshop.
Katya
Georgieva

Kazuo
Shiokawa

V

Meeting Report

arSITI Summarizing Workshop was held as an
ISEE/CICR international workshop in ISEE, Nagoya University on November 11-15, 2019. This workshop was designed to summarize the 5-year scientificachievements of the SCOSTEP’s VarSITI (Variabilityof the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact) program (http://
www.varsiti.org/) of 2014-2018. Ten scientists (projectco-leaders and working group leaders of VarSITI) werejoined from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Japan,

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
12

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21

New Zealand, and USA, and draft of five review papers
were written. These review papers will be submitted toProgress in Earth and Planetary Science (PEPS) for the
special issue of VarSITI.

D

uring this workshop, Nat Gopalswamy, the former
SCOSTEP President, presented glass plaques to
Ms. Mai Asakura, Newsletter secretary of CICR/ISEE
for recognition of 5-year editorial support of VarSITI
Newsletter, and to Mr. Mitko Danov of SRTI, Bulgaria,
for recognition of 5-year support of VarSITI website
operation.

Location

Contact Information

COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop

Jan. 6-17, 2020

Tamil nadu, India

https://www.iiap.res.in/
COSPAR_KSO2020/

EGU General Assembly 2020

May 3-8, 2020

Vienna, Austria

https://www.egu2020.eu/

AOGS 2020

Jun. 28-Jul. 4,2020

http://www.asiaoceania.org/
Hongcheon, Korea aogs2020/public.asp?
page=home.html

SCAR

Jul. 31-Aug. 11,
2020

Hobert, Australia

https://
www.scarcomnap2020.org/

COSPAR 2020

Aug. 15-22, 2020

Sydney, Australia

https://www.cospar2020.org/

URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium (GASS2020)

Aug. 29-Sep.5,
2020

Rome, Italy

https://www.ursi2020.org/

AGU Fall Meeting 2020

Dec. 7-11, 2020

San Francisco, CA,USA

https://www.agu.org/fallmeeting

EGU General Assembly 2021

Apr. 25-30, 2021

Vienna, Austria

IAMAS

Jul. 18-23, 2021

Busan, Korea

AOGS 2021

Aug. 1-6, 2021

Singapore

IAU 2021 General AssemblyAug. 16-27, 2021

Busan, Korea

http://www.iauga2021.org/

IAGA 2021

Aug. 22-27, 2021

Hyderabad, India

http://www.iaga-iaspeiindia2021.in/

AGU Fall Meeting 2021

Dec. 13-17, 2021

New Orleans, LA,
USA

https://www.agu.org/fallmeeting

SCOSTEP’s 15th Quadrennial SolarTerrestrial Physics Symposium (STP-15)

Feb. 21-25, 2022

Alibag, India

EGU General Assembly 2022

Apr. 3-8, 2022

Vienna, Austria

COSPAR 2022

Jul. 16-24, 2022

Athens, Greece

AOGS 2022

Aug. 14-19, 2022

Melbourne, Australia

AGU Fall Meeting 2022

Dec. 12-16, 2022

Chicago, IL, USA

IUGG 2023

In July, 2023

Berlin, Germany

AGU Fall Meeting 2023

Dec. 11-15, 2023

San Francisco, CA,USA

Meeting Report

Date

Highlight on Young Scientists

Conference

ArticleUpcoming meetings related to SCOSTEP

http://baco-21.org/2021/english/
main/index_en.asp

Upcoming Meetings

http://
www.cosparathens2022.org/

Announcement

https://www.agu.org/fallmeetinghttps://www.agu.org/fallmeeting

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 2113

ArticleAnnouncement 1:

SCOSTEP’s 15th Quadrennial SolarTerrestrial Physics Symposium (STP-15),
Alibag, India February 21-25, 2022

Highlight on Young Scientists

K. Shiokawa1 and S. Gurubaran2
1Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE),
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
2Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai, India

We are happy to announce that the SCOSTEP’s
15th Quadrennial Solar-Terrestrial Physics Symposium (STP-15) will be held at Alibag, India, on February 21-25, 2022 with the local organizing support by
the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism.

T

Meeting Report

he Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP) organizes the Solar-Terrestrial
Physics (STP) symposium once every four years.
SCOSTEP is engaged in three major activities: longterm scientific programs, capacity building and public
outreach. The scientific programs are of interdisciplinary in nature involving scientists from around theworld. They are designed to advance our understandingof the solar-terrestrial relationship using space- andground-based observations, cutting-edge models andtheory. Under what ways the Sun affects the Earth andits environment over various time scales is the underlying theme of the scientific programs pursued under
SCOSTEP. Having addressed the variability component
during the recently concluded Variability of the Sun and

Kazuo
Shiokawa

its Terrestrial Impact (VarSITI) program, the new program of SCOSTEP, Predictability of the variable SolarTerrestrial Coupling (PRESTO, 2020-2024, http://
www.issibj.ac.cn/Publications/Forum_Reports/201404/
W020190620592906717714.pdf.), address the predictability component of those phenomena that have impact
on the Sun-Earth system as a whole in various timescales.

T

he STP-15 will aim to gather eminent scientists
from solar, magnetospheric, ionospheric and atmospheric physics communities to discuss and deliberate on the cutting-edge sciences pertaining to STP. STP-15 will address the predictability as a focus area in eachof the traditional topics deliberated upon during the earlier STP meetings, namely, the mass and radiation
chains and intra-atmospheric coupling.

Please put the date of STP-15 into your calendar, andprepare to join in with the new SCOSTEP program
PRESTO.

Upcoming Meetings

Announcement 2:

Predictability of the Variable Solar-Terrestrial
Coupling (PRESTO)
Kazuo Shiokawa
Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE),
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

AnnouncementAs described by the Bureau report, the next
SCOSTEP program PRESTO interval will be 2020-2024. The mission of PRESTO is to identify predictability of the variable solar-terrestrial coupling performance metrics through modeling, measurements, anddata analysis and to strengthen the communication between scientists and users. Details of PRESTO were
documented in Taikong.
http://www.issibj.ac.cn/Publications/

14

Subramanian
Gurubaran

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21

Kazuo
Shiokawa

Forum_Reports/201404/
W020190620592906717714.pdf
PRESTO is comprised of 3 Pillars:
Pillar 1. Sun, interplanetary space and geospace
Pillar 2. Space weather and the Earth’s atmosphere
Pillar 3. Solar activity and its influence on the climate of
the Earth Systemhair, Co-chair, and Pillar Co-leaders of PRESTO
have been fixed as below. More details will comein the next issue of this newsletter.

ArticleC

Pillar 2. Space weather and the Earth’s atmosphereco-leader: Loren Chang (National Central University,
Taiwan)PRESTO
chair: Ramon Edgardo Lopez (University of Texas at
Arlington, USA)

co-leader: Duggirala Pallamraju (Physical ResearchLaboratory, Ahmedabad, India)

co-chair: Katja Matthes (Helmholtz Center for Ocean
Research Kiel and Christian-Albrechts Universitat zu
Kiel, Germany)

Highlight on Young Scientists

co-leader: Nick Pedatella (High Altitude Observatory,
National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA)

co-chair: Jie Zhang (George Mason University, USA)
Pillar 3. Solar activity and its influence on the climate of the Earth System
Pillar 1. Sun, interplanetary space and geospaceco-leader: Odele Coddington (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, USA)

co-leader: Allison Jaynes (University of Iowa, USA)
co-leader: Emilia Kilpua (University of Helsinki, Finland)co-leader: Jie Jiang (Beihang University, China)co-leader: Spiros Patsourakos (University of Ioannina,
Greece)co-leader: Eugene Rozanov (PMOD/WRC and IAC
ETHZ, Switzerland)

Announcement 3:

Patricia Doherty
Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College,
Boston, MA, USA

Call for nominations for the 2020 SCOSTEPAwards for Distinguished Scientist Distinguished
Young Scientist and Distinguished Service has beenreleased.

R

ecognizing the societal importance of studies in
the field of solar-terrestrial physics and willing togive credit to scientists who contribute significantly tothese studies and to SCOSTEP activities, the SCOSTEP
Bureau has instituted the following awards:●

SCOSTEP Distinguished Scientist Award

This award is given to recognize an outstanding contribution of a scientist to solar-terrestrial physics●

SCOSTEP Distinguished Young Scientist Award●T

SCOSTEP Distinguished Service Award
his award is given to recognize unique contributions to SCOSTEP-related activities, to realizationof its programs and events. This award is nominallymade in odd years. Since no award was made in 2019,it may be made retroactively in 2020.

T

he SCOSTEP awards are given biennially. The firstDistinguished Science Awards were awarded in
2014. The first Distinguished Service Award was given
in 2013. The Award Statutes and Procedures are placedon the SCOSTEP web site section “Awards” (http://
www.bc.edu/scostep/programs/awards).

A

ward nomination packages (nomination letter andnominee’s curriculum vitae) for the DistinguishedAwardsshould be submitted to the SCOSTEP secretariat(Patricia.Doherty_at_bc.edu) by no later than February
29, 2020, as a single pdf file. The currently serving
SCOSTEP Executive Officers and Bureau Members are
not eligible for nomination. The award decision will bemade by the SCOSTEP Awards Committee (SAC ) andcommunicated to the Bureau after considering submissions.

Announcement

This award is given to young scientists who haveachieved considerable success in solar-terrestrial physics and have taken an active part in SCOSTEP-related
activities

Patricia Doherty

Upcoming Meetings

A

Meeting Report2020 SCOSTEP Distinguished Scientist andService Awards

Please consider nominating your deserving colleagues
for these prestigious awards.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21

15

The purpose of the The purpose of the SCOSTEP/PRESTO newsletter is to promote communication among scientists related to solar-terrestrial
physics and the SCOSTEP’s PRESTO program.
The editors would like to ask you to submit the following articles to the SCOSTEP/PRESTO newsletter.
Our newsletter has five categories of the articles:
1. Articles— Each article has a maximum of 500 words length and four figures/photos (at least two figures/photos).
With the writer’s approval, the small face photo will be also added.
On campaign, ground observations, satellite observations, modeling, etc.
2. Meeting reports—Each meeting report has a maximum of 150 words length and one photo from the meeting.
With the writer’s approval, the small face photo will be also added.
On workshop/conference/ symposium report related to SCOSTEP/PRESTO
3. Highlights on young scientists— Each highlight has a maximum of 200 words length and two figures.
With the writer’s approval, the small face photo will be also added.
On the young scientist’s own work related to SCOSTEP/PRESTO
4. Announcement— Each announcement has a maximum of 200 words length.
Announcements of campaign, workshop, etc.
5. Meeting schedule
Category 3 (Highlights on young scientists) helps both young scientists and SCOSTEP/PRESTO members to know each other. Please contact
the editors if you know any recommended young scientists who are willing to write an article on this category.
TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE
Articles/figures/photos can be emailed to the Newsletter Secretary, Ms. Mai Asakura (asakura_at_isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp). If you have any questions or problem, please do not hesitate to ask us.

SUBSCRIPTION - SCOSTEP MAILING LISTThe PDF version of the SCOSTEP/PRESTO Newsletter is distributed through the SCOSTEP-all mailing list. If you want to be included in themailing list to receive future information of SCOSTEP/PRESTO, please send e-mail to “patricia.doherty_at_bc.edu” or “sean.oconnell.2 atbc.edu” (replace “_at_” by “@”) with your name, affiliation, and topic of interest to be included.
Editors:

Kazuo Shiokawa (shiokawa_at_nagoya-u.jp)
SCOSTEP President,
Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University,
Nagoya, Japan
Patricia H. Doherty (patricia.doherty_at_bc.edu)
SCOSTEP Scientific Secretary,
Boston College, Boston, MA, USA

Ramon Lopez (relopez_at_uta.edu)
PRESTO chair,
University of Texas at Arlington, TX, USA

Newsletter Secretary:

Mai Asakura (asakura_at_isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp)
Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University,
Nagoya, Japan

PRESTO co-chairs
and Pillar co-leaders:

Katja Matthes (co-chair), Jie Zhang (co-chair), Allison Jaynes (Pillar 1 co-leader), Emilia Kilpua(Pillar 1 co-leader), Spiros Patsourakos (Pillar 1 co-leader), Loren Chang (Pillar 2 co-leader),Duggirala Pallamraju (Pillar 2 co-leader), Nick Pedatella (Pillar 2 co-leader), Odele Coddington(Pillar 3 co-leader), Jie Jiang (Pillar 3 co-leader), and Eugene Rozanov (Pillar 3 co-leader)

SCOSTEP Bureau:

Kazuo Shiokawa (President), Daniel Marsh (Vice President), Nat Goplaswamy (Past President),
Patricia Doherty (Scientific Secretary), Aude Chambodut (WDS), Jorge Chau (URSI), KyungSuk Cho (IAU), Yoshizumi Miyoshi (COSPAR), Renata Lukianova (IAGA/IUGG), Peter
Pilewskie (IAMAS), Annika Seppälä (SCAR), and Prasad Subramanian (IUPAP)
web site: www.bc.edu/scostep.

16

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 21