SCOSTEP/PRESTONEWSLETTER
Vol. 31, April 2022

Inside this issue
Article 1:
Similar patterns of tropical precipitation andcirculation changes
under solar and greenhouse gas forcing

1

Article 2:
SCOSTEP General
Council Meeting

3

Highlight onYoung Scientists 1:
Habtamu Marew Alemu / Ethiopia

4

Highlight onYoung Scientists 2:
Ishita Gulati / UK

6

Highlight onYoung Scientists 3:
Quanhao Zhang /
China

7

Highlight onYoung Scientists 4:
George Ochieng
Ondede / Nigeria

8

Meeting Report 1:
STP-15 Symposium

11

Upcoming Meetings

12

Announcement 1:
SCOSTEP/PRESTO
Grants for 2022

13

Announcement 2:
SCOSTEP 2022 Distinguished Scientist
Award

14

Announcement 3:
SCOSTEP 2022 Distinguished Young Scientist Award

15

Article 1:

Similar patterns of tropical precipitation andcirculation changes under solar and greenhouse gas forcing

Stergios Misios1
1National Observatory of Athens, Athens, GreeceIn response to surface warming caused
by a radiative forcing agent, global
precipitation increases at an almost fixed
rate of about 2.4-2.6% per degree of
global warming, independently of thenature of the agent [1]. While global precipitation change is relatively constrained, regional patterns of forced responses are highly uncertain as they depend on dynamics. Our understanding on
the mechanisms constraining the past,current and future variability of the tropical precipitation and circulation could be
improved by studying responses to different forcings in idealized modelling studies.

Stergios
MisiosIn a recent study [2], we have compared
the regional precipitation response to
Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) versus greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing in a) idealized
simulations of Precipitation Driver Response Model Intercomparison Project(PDRMIP) [3] and b) last millennium(850-2005) ensemble of the Community
Earth System Model (CESM-LME) [4].
Specifically, we make use of the idealized PDRMIP experiments that consider
the effects of an abrupt doubling CO2
concentration (PDRMIP-CO2, hereafter)and 2% increase in TSI (PDRMIP-SOL,
hereafter). We additionally analyse single
forcing runs from CESM-LME consider-Figure 1. Spatial patterns of ensemble mean filtered precipitation (shaded, in mm/
day/K) and surface temperature (contours, in K/K) regressed onto the filtered global
mean surface temperature in a) PDRMIP-SOL, b) PDRMIP-CO2, c) CESM-SOL
and d) CESM-GHG simulations. Stippling indicates regions of chance probability p< 0.05 according to a t-test. Contour spacing is 0.2 K/K.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

Article
Highlight on Young Scientists
Meeting Report

Figure 2. Spatial patterns of ensemble mean filtered equatorial (5°S-5°N) winds (m/s/K) regressed onto the filteredglobal mean surface temperature in a) PDRMIP-SOL, b) PDRMIP-CO2, c) CESM-SOL and d) CESM-GHG
simulations. Stippling indicates regions of chance probability p < 0.05 according to a t-test.

ing a) centennial variations in TSI (CESM-SOL) and b)
GHG only (CESM-GHG). All signatures are presented
as regression coefficients of low-pass filtered timeseries
to the corresponding global mean temperature change.

Upcoming MeetingsWe demonstrate similar patterns of forced precipitation response, stronger for TSI given an equal
global mean surface warming (Figure 1). We identify in
PDRMIP the strongest absolute changes over the equatorial Pacific irrespective of the forcing. CESM-SOL
shows similar patterns of precipitation response to
PDRMIP, as the excess rainfall is found in the westernand central equatorial Pacific. This pattern is also detected in the CESM-GHG ensemble, albeit of reduced
amplitude that is likely due to the muted global hydrological sensitivity under the influence of historical
GHGs.

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Announcement
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recipitation responses in the tropical Pacific arehighly dependent on changes in the Walker circulation. The PDRMIP simulates a similar reduction of theWalker circulation in response to TSI and CO2 (Figure2). Interestingly, both PDRMIP-SOL and PDRMIPCO2 simulate positive anomalies of the filtered equatorial zonal winds over the Pacific, suggesting an overall
reduction of the Walker circulation. Comparison of the
CESM-SOL and PDRMIP-SOL results shows that variations of TSI at centennial time scales cause similarchanges in the Walker circulation. CESM-GHG on theother hand, does not support the evidence fromPDRMIP for anomalous westerlies.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31P

revious analysis of last millennium simulations
have suggested that periods of high solar forcing
increase sea-surface temperature gradients in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and decrease rainfall, while increasing GHG concentrations have the opposite effect [5]. In
contrast, the CESM-LME and PDRMIP simulations
analyzed in this study provide evidence that solar and
GHG forcings cause very similar patterns in the tropical
Pacific characterized by an ocean warming, enhanced
precipitation in the central Pacific, and a weakening andeastward shift of the Walker circulation. Our analysis
also provides qualitative support to the observational
evidence for a slowdown of the Walker circulation andenhanced precipitation in the Central Pacific [6], but therole of internal variability needs to properly assessed byconsidering large ensemble simulations.
References:
1) Allan, et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 2020
2) Misios, et al., Environ Res Lett, 2021
3) Myhre, et al., 20164) Otto-Bliesner, et al., 2015
5) Liu, et al., 20136) Misios, et al., PNAS 2019

Article

Article 2:

SCOSTEP General Council Meeting

Highlight on Young Scientists

Patricia Doherty1
1Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College, Boston, MA, USA

Patricia
DohertyA

meeting of the SCOSTEP General Council washeld virtually on February 25, 2022. The meeting
was conducted following the conclusion of the 15th
Quadrennial Solar-Terrestrial Physics Symposium(STP15) hosted by Dr. Subramanian Gurubaran of the
Indian Institute of Geomagnetism.

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full presentation on the Financial State of
SCOSTEP was provided by the Scientific Secretary. This presentation revealed that SCOSTEP is ingood financial order with a steady flow of income, anticipated annual expenses and a growing cash balance.
Dr. Shiokawa presented plans to develop Bylaws thatwould identify the purpose and responsibilities of thevarious committees of SCOSTEP that are not identified
in the Constitution.

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inally, Dr. Shiokawa presented a proposal to amend
the SCOSTEP Constitution to account for several
changes in the organization. Dr. Shiokawa explained
the process for Amending the Constitution which includes presenting it to the General Council for a vote.
As not all General Council members were able to attend
this meeting, the Scientific Secretary sent the information to all General Council members for their consideration and vote.

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his meeting of the General Council generated lively
discussion and confirmed significant interest in
SCOSTEP activities by the membership. A full copy ofthe minutes of the General Council meeting can befound on the SCOSTEP website at: https://scostep.org/
meeting-minutes-archive/.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

Announcement

he prime topics of the General Council meeting
included introductions of SCOSTEP leadership;
introductions of new National Adherents and their representatives; the transition of the office of the Scientific
Secretary; a report on PRESTO goals and activities; areport on the STP15; updates on SCOSTEP’s collaboration with the International Science Council (ISC), theInternational Space Weather Initiative (ISWI) and the
UN Office for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(UNCOPOUS). Presentations were also made on the
SCOSTEP Visiting Scholar Program and other outreachactivities that supported schools and workshops; online
capacity building lectures; the delivery of quarterly
newsletters; the translation of the SCOSTEP comicbook series into additional languages; the annual
SCOSTEP Awards; and the introduction of new
SCOSTEP Fellow opportunities.

Upcoming Meetings

he meeting was attended by a number of National
Adherent Representatives, Bureau Members,
PRESTO chairpersons, and Scientific Discipline Representatives. General Council Meetings are held every
two years to determine scientific priorities, consider
scientific proposals, and review financial and administrative arrangements, and at alternate meetings to electthe President and Vice President. These elections will
be held at the next General Council Meeting in 2023.

Figure 1. Online group photo of the participants of the
SCOSTEP General Council Meeting.

Meeting Reportr. Kazuo Shiokawa, President of SCOSTEP,
opened this meeting stating that much has happened since the last General Council meeting in 2019.
This included transitions in leadership and the launch of
the new scientific program PRESTO (Predictability ofSolar-Terrestrial Coupling). At nearly the same time
the COVID pandemic escalated worldwide, rendering
travel, face-to-face meetings, workshops and schools
nearly impossible. However, our work did not stop as
many opportunities continued as virtual events. Dr. Shiokawa stated that our work cannot stop as understanding
solar-terrestrial coupling processes is essential due tothe increasing use of space by humans and for the importance of climate change.

3Article

Highlight on Young Scientists 1:

Seasonal Variations of EEJ and Counter-EEJ during quiet times
from 2014 to 2018 Swarm constellation observations

Highlight on Young Scientists

Habtamu Marew Alemu1
1Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia

E

EJ as a band of non-uniform intense eastward ionospheric current flows within a latitudinal extent of±30 on either side of the dip equator at a lower altitude
E region centered at around 106±2 km (Onwumechili,
1997; Rabiu et al, 2017).

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Meeting Report

his work describes new insights on seasonal variations of equatorial electrojet (EEJ) currents. The
study used observations of Swarm-A and Swarm-B satellites. Quiet day (Kp ⩽3) measurements from 2014 to2018 are analyzed in such away that enable to characterize the seasonal/periodic variations of EEJ and its
counter electrojet (CEJ) currents. Data of all daysidelongitudinal sectors are ploted against latitude in a usual
seasons (Equinoxial and solictice). Besides, EEJ is periodic feature is studied for specific longitudinal region(300 to 600).

Habtamu
Marew AlemuT

he EEJ recorded from Swarm-A shows a pronounced minimum during the March equinox and amaximum in the September equinox. Results reveal thatduring the occurrence of strong EEJ over the deep equator, a corresponding strong CEJ occurs at about ±50
latitude. This might be due to a back drag effect of themain current on the dip equator over the current awayfrom it. The observations also shows that the conclusion
made by Richmond (1973) and Rabiu et al. (2017) on
the seasonal variation of EEJ is not always true. Of
course, as mentioned on the introduction they did theirstudies with limited data. For instance, look the December solictice in 2018 Swarm-A measurements and December solictice again in 2017 and 2018, by Swarm-B,
they show relatively strong EEJ current from other seasons. The measurements between 300 and 600 longitude

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
Figure 1. Seasonal variability of EEJ from Swarm-A observations (-1800 to1800).

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SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

Article
Highlight on Young Scientists
Meeting Report

Figure 2. Seasonal variability of EEJ from Swarm-B observations (-1800 to 1800).

Upcoming Meetings

Figure 3. EEJ variations and occurrence frequency of CEJ in 2014 from SwarmA (between 300 and 600 longitude sector).

also show weak EEJ in the March equinox than theJune and December solictices. This non-patterned variations of EEJ actually will make the seasonal modelingdifficult.
herefore, one can conclude that the morphology of
EEJ is not a uniformly/periodically patterned. The
commonly understood seasonal description does not
apply to the EEJ variability according to the analysis of
this work based on the data mentioned above. In addition, the results reveal that as the EEJ get stronger theoccurrence of CEJ decreases. However, these results
should be considered as preliminary outcomes.

Rabiu, et al., (2017), Ann. Geophys., 35, 535–545.
Richmond, (1973) , J. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 35, 10831103.

Announcement

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References:

Onwumechili, (1997), Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, the Netherlands, pp 627.
Thomas, N., Vichare, G., & Sinha, A. K. (2016), Advances in Space Research, 59(6), 1526–1538.
doi:10.1016/j.asr.2016.12.019.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 315

Highlight on Young Scientists 2:

ArticleNeural Networks for Detection and Prediction of Dst Index

Highlight on Young Scientists

Ishita Gulati1
1Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UKD

espite the existence of the Sun and the Earth from
4.5 billion years ago, society's awareness of space
weather and its impact on technology/humanity has substantially increased only in the recent few decades. Thisis, because, with the advent of technical and scientificupheaval, we are now in a far more vulnerable position
than we ever were.

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urrent space science research focuses on accurately
predicting solar occurrences to warn consumers ofimpending storms. However, this level of forecast accuracy is not yet available, and extensive research is being
conducted to make it possible.

Ishita GulatiT

he next part of my research involves a forecast
model that can predict the Dst index. The earlyfindings of this model were presented during the 2021
AGU Fall Meeting [3].

The LSTM model is used to forecast the strength of ageomagnetic storm using a series of time steps of
Dst index, sampled every 1-hour for the year of 2015 asshown in fig. 2.

Meeting Report

I

Upcoming Meetingsn the early stages of my research, I analyzed the consequences of space weather at low, middle, and highlatitudes [1,2]. Inspired by the impact these events canhave, I recently began to apply Machine Learning techniques to study the effects of the Sun-Earth interaction
on GNSS. One of my recent publications (in press),
involves building a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM)
neural network model that detects the Dst index on
storm days with an accuracy of up to 83.47 percent.
This involves feeding the network with geomagnetic
index data from 2012 to 2016, that includes IMF parameters, plasma proton density, AE index, and flux above
10 MeV. Once the model is trained, it is validated on
the top five geomagnetic storms of 2017. The results
show that the model can detect low-moderate storms
reliably. The model predicted the Dst for all 365 days of2017 and fig. 1 shows the actual and anticipated Dst on
the storm day of May 28 which infers the prediction ofa time lagged Dst. The model's accuracy also confirms
Dst's seasonal behaviour, allowing us to conclude thatthe model works well for the Vernal Equinox.

Figure 2. Initial forecast of Dst.

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sequence-to-sequence regression LSTM network
is trained for 250 epochs with ‘adam’ and a predetermined gradient threshold to avoid the problem ofgradient descent. The response of each prediction issaved as (t+1), which first updates the current state, andis then used to predict the next Dst time step.

After the model has been fully trained, it is tested on
the Dst data from January 2016. The neural network's performance was evaluated under various storm
situations, and the findings suggest that it was capableof forecasting Dst. On January 1, 2016, a G-2 geomagnetic storm occurred, resulting in Dst depressions of up
to -110nT. We saw a significant change in the RMSE
value from 21.16 to 4.6, indicating a 78 percent increasein the model's accuracy in forecasting the Dst as shownin fig. 3.

Announcement
Figure 1. Predicted Dst vs Actual Dst on 28 May 2017.

Figure 3. Dst forecast for 1 Jan 2016.

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Article

reduction of a factor of 5, making it a good choice forstudying storms induced by SRBs, CMEs, flares, etc.
with extra geomagnetic data as input parameters or features.
References:

Figure 4. Dst forecast for 20 Jan 2016.

Further results reveal that the model was able to predict another storm caused by a CME and C-classflares that occurred in the same month of January, 20-21
January, with a maximum magnetic depression of -93nT
as shown in fig. 4. The LSTM's promising nature ontime series data like Dst is demonstrated by the error

Highlight on Young Scientists

1. I. Gulati, H. Li, S. Stainton, M. Johnston and S.
Dlay, "Investigation of Ionospheric Phase Scintillation at Middle-Latitude Receiver Station," 2019 International Symposium ELMAR, 2019, pp. 191-194,
doi: 10.1109/ELMAR.2019.8918653.
2. I. Gulati, R. Tiwari, M. Johnston and S. Dlay,"Impact of Solar Flares on HF Radio Communication at High Latitude," 2019 International Conference on Automation, Computational and Technology Management (ICACTM), 2019, pp. 550-554, doi:
10.1109/ICACTM.2019.8776851.
3. I. Gulati, H. Li, and S. Dlay, “"Using LSTMs to
Forecast Disturbance Storm Time (Dst) In-

Highlight on Young Scientists 3:

Flux feeding mechanism of solar magnetic flux rope
eruptionsC

QuanhaoZhang

During flux feeding, the small emerging rope rises
and merges with the pre-existing coronal magnetic
flux rope, as shown in Fig. 1(a)-1(b) for the BPS case,and Fig. 1(f)-1(g) for the HFT case. The pre-existingcoronal flux rope erupts after flux feeding in these twocases, demonstrating that flux feeding is efficient incausing solar eruptions in both the BPS and the HFT
configurations. By calculating and comparing the axial
magnetic flux of the pre-existing rope before and after
flux feeding, we find that axial flux is injected into therope by flux feeding.

Upcoming Meetings

oronal magnetic flux ropes are generally considered to be the core structure of solar eruptions. Observations found that solar eruptions could be initiatedafter a sequence of flux feeding episodes, during whichchromospheric fibrils rise and merge with the prominence above (Zhang et al. 2014). To shed light on thephysical essence of this phenomenon, we use numericalsimulations to investigate the influence of flux feedingon coronal magnetic flux ropes, including both the stable Bald-Path-Separatrix (BPS) configuration (Fig. 1(a))
and the meta-stable Hyperbolic-Flux-Tube (HFT) configuration (Fig. 1(b)). The rising fibril in the scenario offlux feeding is represented by a small flux rope emerging from the photosphere (dark green curves in Fig. 1).

Meeting Report

Quanhao Zhang1,2
1University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
2CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei, China

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Announcemento reveal the eruptive mechanism, we simulate manycases with different intensities of flux feeding. As
shown in Fig. 3, the stronger the flux feeding (larger
CE), the greater the axial flux of the resultant rope after
flux feeding, indicating that more axial flux is injected.
The flux rope does not always erupt after flux feeding;the non-eruptive (small circles in Fig. 3) cases and eruptive cases (black dots in Fig. 3) are well separated, implying critical axial flux of the rope. Therefore, flux
feeding can cause solar eruptions, provided that theamount of the axial flux injected by flux feeding is large
enough so that the critical axial flux of the rope
(horizontal dotted lines in Fig. 3) is reached.

Figure 1. Predicted Dst vs Actual Dst on 28 May 2017.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 317

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Highlight on Young Scientists

Figure 2. Eruptions caused by flux feeding. Panels (a)-(d) show the evolution of the magnetic configuration during
the eruption of the flux rope in BPS configuration, with the blue color depicting the distribution of electric current; panel (e) is the corresponding height-time profile of the rope axis. Panels (f)-(j) are those for the HFT case.

Meeting Report

Figure 3. Axial magnetic flux of the resultant rope after flux feeding processes with different intensities. Larger C E
implies stronger flux feeding. The eruptive and non-eruptive cases are plotted by black dots and small circles, respectively.

References:[01-Observation] Zhang, Quanhao, Liu, Rui, et al.
(2014), “A prominence eruption driven by flux feedingfrom chromospheric fibrils”, The Astrophysical Journal,
789,
133,
doi:
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004637X/789/2/133.

Upcoming Meetings[02-Simulation in BPS] Zhang, Quanhao, Wang, Yuming, et al. (2020), “Eruption of Solar Magnetic Flux

[03-Simulation in HFT] Zhang, Quanhao, Liu, Rui, etal. (2021), “How flux feeding causes eruptions of solar
magnetic flux ropes with the hyperbolic flux tube configuration”, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 647, A171,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039944.

Highlight on Young Scientists 4:

Relationship Between Geomagnetic Storms Occurrence andIonospheric Irregularities on the West Sector of Africa During
the Peak of the 24th Solar Cycle

Announcement

George Ochieng Ondede1,2
1Technical University, Nairobi, Kenya
2Centre for Atmospheric Research, National Space Research and Development Agency,
Anyigba, Nigeria

T
8

Ropes Caused by Flux Feeding”, The AstrophysicalJournalLetters,
898,
L12,
doi:
https://
doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aba1f3.

o measure the actual impact of the solar events ontechnology, we investigated the correlation between

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

George Ochieng
Ondedegeomagnetic storm index Disturbance storm time index,
Dst and ionospheric irregularities occurrences, in ourcase using the rate of change of TEC index (ROTI).
ccording to Loewe, (1997), geomagnetic storms
can be classified into five groups based on the minimum value of Dst: weak (-30 ≥ Dst > -50 nT), moderate (-50 ≥ Dst > -100 nT), strong (-100 ≥ Dst > -200nT), severe (-200 ≥ Dst > -350 nT), and great (Dst ≤ArticleAof 12 hours-variation and a seasonal signature; the two
seasons were believed to be equinoxes and the solstices.

-350 nT).

R

Highlight on Young Scientists

OTI is a good indicator of the existence of ionospheric irregularities and ROTI ≥0.5 indicates theoccurrence of irregular ionospheric activities relevant toionospheric scintillation (Yang & Liu, 2016). Ma &Maruyama, (2006), defined 4 levels of ROTI. He divided them in four distinct categories: 0 < ROTI < 0.5; 0.5< ROTI < 1; 1 < ROTI < 1.5; 1.5 < ROTI < 2, and ROTI ˃ 2.

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he Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)
data for our work was obtained from the Nigerian
Permanent GNSS Network (NIGNET) and selected
such that the receiver stations fell within the better partof Nigeria. The receivers majorly received data fromsatellites on the GPS and Global Navigation Satellite
System (GLONASS) constellations. The geomagnetic
data was obtained from the World Data Center in Kyoto(http://swdcdb.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dstdir/) for the entire
period of study.

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bserved were Periods Associated with the ROTI
values. These were diurnal, semi-diurnal, a period

Figure 1. Periodogram of Hourly ROTI values for theyear 2012.The peaks marked a to d are respectively
centred at 0.04169, 0.08331, 0.00024, and 0.12500 Cycles/Hour respectively.

N

ext observed was minimal morning and daytime
irregularities. In this work, some artificial seedingmechanisms could not be overruled just as it was in thecase of Li et al., (2018).

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings

Figure 2. The variation of ROTI collectively computed from all stations in Table 1, with the time of the day, during geomagnetically active days. The minimum Dst indices ranged from -139 nT to -60 nT. The ROTI was calculated at 30 minutes’ interval.

Announcement

Figure 3. The seasonal Variations of the times of occurrences of the ionospheric irregularities as determined using
ROTI. The horizontal red lines are put arbitrarily to help in comparison of the trends across the seasons.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

9

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Articlee also observed irregularities predominantly atnight. The nighttime irregularities were believed
to be due to ionospheric plasma irregularities in theequatorial ionospheric F region. They developed under
the unique condition of the low inclination geomagnetic
field lines that confine the F region plasma to its lowlatitude conjugate E layers.

I
Highlight on Young Scientists
Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
10t was evident that the geomagnetic storms were notabsolutely responsible for technological impairment
which could be occasioned by ionospheric irregularities
as measured by ROTI. There were minimal correlations
between geomagnetic indices, Dst and the irregularity
parameters, ROTI.

Acknowledgements:We appreciate the source of GNSS data. We also
acknowledge the World Data Centre (WDC) for
Geomagnetism, Kyoto Japan from whose website thegeomagnetic data was obtained. We thank the ScientificCommittee on Solar Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP),
for providing him with the visiting scientist award 2020,
which helped him carry out his work at the Space Environment Research Laboratory of the Centre for Atmospheric Research, Abuja. Special thanks to the Centre for
Atmospheric Research, National Space Research andDevelopment Agency (CAR-NASRDA), Nigeria for
hosting me, facilitating the research work, for the financial and technical supports they gave, and for providing
all that was necessary for the research.
References:
Li, G., Ning, B., Abdu, M. A., Wang, C., Otsuka, Y.,
Wan, W., Lei, J., Nishioka, M., Tsugawa, T., Hu, L.,
Yang, G., & Yan, C. (2018). Daytime F-region irregularity triggered by rocket-induced ionospheric hole over
low latitude. Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-018-0172-y.
Loewe, C. A. (1997). Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume 102 issue A7 1997 [doi 10.1029_96ja04020]
Loewe, C. A.; Prölss, G. W. -- Classification and mean
behavior of magnetic storms.pdf. 102.
Ma, G., & Maruyama, T. (2006). A super bubble detected by dense GPS network at east Asian longitudes. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(21), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027512.

Figure 4. The plot of Dst against the ROTI on the dayof storm. The value, cc, on the plot represent the correlation coefficient of the parameters plotted. Not all the
Storm events were associated with ionospheric disturbances. Out of the 56 storms identified in Table 3, 36
were associated with nighttime ionospheric irregularities as evident by ROTI.

S

tatistical analysis of the seasonal variations indicated that the Equinox months had the highest percentage occurrences of ionospheric irregularities in general.
This was in line with the finding of Makela et al.,(2004).

F

inally, during the peak of the 24th solar cycle, andparticularly, 2012, there were more CME generated
geomagnetic storms that CIR generated storms.
Storms Classification inTerms ofStrength

Total CME
Generated
Storms (% In
Brackets)

Total CIR
Generated
Storms (% In
Brackets)

Grand Total
No. ofStorms Considered

Weak Storm

23(41.07)3(5.36)26(46.43)

ModerateStorm

11(19.64)

13(23.21)

24(42.86)

StrongStorm

06(10.71)

6(10.71)

Grand Total

34(60.71)

22(39.29)

56

Figure 5. A summary showing the Classification interms of strength of all geomagnetic storms of Dst≤30
nT for the period between January 2012 and December
2012.The values in brackets represent the percentages.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

Makela, J. J., Ledvina, B. M., Kelley, M. C., & Kintner,
P. M. (2004). Analysis of the seasonal variations ofequatorial plasma bubble occurrence observed from
Haleakala, Hawaii. Annales Geophysicae, 22(9), 3109–
3121. https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-22-3109-2004.
Yang, Z., & Liu, Z. (2016). Correlation between ROTI
and Ionospheric Scintillation Indices using Hong Kong
low-latitude GPS data. GPS Solutions, 20(4), 815–824.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-015-0492-y.

Article

Meeting Report 1:

STP-15 Symposium

Highlight on Young Scientists

Subramanian Gurubaran1
1Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Subramanian
Gurubaran

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There were 4 Keynote lectures:

Session 1 encompassed the several overarching topics in the Sun-Earth Connection, broadly covering
the various aspects of solar-terrestrial relationship.

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Sessions 2, 3 and 4 covered presentations from thethree pillars of the Predictability of the Variable Solar-Terrestrial Coupling (PRESTO).

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Besides the Science, there were sessions that dealt
with the prediction of space weather and its implementation (Session 5), besides modelling and data
analysis tools to address challenging problems in
STP (Session 6).
Another session dealt with the new ground- andspace-based initiatives for STP research (Session 7).
As Geomagnetism provides an important link between the Sun and Earth, one special session wasdedicated to this topic (Session 8).

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Dr. Thomas Immel spoke about NASA's ICON mission.
Dr. Robert Cameron provided some thoughts on thephysical basis of the solar cycle prediction.
Dr. Dipankar Banerjee elaborated on the Aditya-L1,
India's Space Observatory to study the Sun.

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he STP-15 Symposium received an overwhelming
response with nearly 480 registered users on https://
stp15.in. We had representations from 40 countries withover 350 registered participants. A large number of student and regular participants from colleges and universities of low and middle income group countries were
provided with the registration fee waiver.

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ust before STP-15, a 2-day student Workshop on
Solar-Terrestrial Physics for Students and Young
Scientists (STEPSYS) was organized during 19-20 February 2022 for the benefit of students and young researchers by arranging tutorials/lectures by eminentscientists on topics ranging from the Sun, its interior
and its atmosphere, through the magnetosphereionosphere system and reaching the Earth. The speakers
were B. R. Arora, D. Nandi, Ramon Lopez, Jens Oberheide, Annika Seppala, Mamoru Ishii, D. Pallamraju
and G. K. Rangarajan. The lectures were of one-hour
duration with 30-min interaction with the participants.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

Announcement

he scientific deliberations were spread over 5 days
and in 5 time slots, each time slot of 80 min duration, with 2 time slots between 0300 and 0640 GMT
and 3 time slots between 1100 and 1630 GMT. There
were invited talks of 15 min or 30 min duration. Eachsolicited paper was of 10 min duration. In total we had
343 papers scheduled over five days. The 30-min
breakout sessions following the main sessions were a
key feature in the organization of STP-15 and the manner in which they were conducted received applausefrom a wide section of participants.

●

Dr. Drew Turner gave a talk on the solar wind driving of the Earth's magnetosphere-ionosphereatmosphere system.

Upcoming Meetings●

he 15th Quadrennial Solar-Terrestrial Physics Symposium featured 8 scientific sessions:Figure 1. Online group photo of the participants of the
STP-15 symposium.

Meeting Reportndian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) hosted theScientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics(SCOSTEP)’s 15th Solar-Terrestrial Physics Symposium (STP-15) during 21-25 February 2022 (https://
stp15.in). SCOSTEP, a worldwide scientific body underthe International Science Council (ISC) organizes the
Solar-Terrestrial Physics (STP) symposia once every
four years. The aim of the STP-15 was to bring together
experts, young scientists and young research students
from solar, magnetospheric, ionospheric and atmospheric physics communities to discuss and deliberate on thefrontline and up-to-date sciences pertaining to STP.
Considering the regulations imposed by COVID-19
pandemic, STP-15 was conducted in a completely virtual mode.

11

Upcoming meetings related to SCOSTEPArticleHighlight on Young Scientists

Conference

Date

LocationContact Information

Iberian Science Summer School (i4s 2022)

Jun. 6-10, 2022

Madrid, Spain

https://www.i4s-iberian-spacescience-summer-school.com/

14th Workshop “Solar Influences on the
Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Atmosphere”

Jun. 6-10, 2022

Primorsko,
Bulgaria

The Second Summer School on Space Research, Technology and Application

Jul. 3-10, 2022

Rozhen, Bulgaria

https://bulgarianspace.online/
second-summer-school_2022/

COSPAR 2022

Jul. 16-24, 2022

Athens, Greece

http://
www.cosparathens2022.org/

Onlinehttps://www.asiaoceania.org/
aogs2022/public.asp?
page=home.asp

Boston, MA, USA

https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/research/sites/institute-forscientific-research/eventsconferences/bss2022.html

AOGS 2022

Aug. 1-5, 2022

International Beacon Satellite Symposium

Aug. 1-5, 2022

Meeting Report

16th International Symposium on Equatorial
Sept. 12-16, 2022 Kyoto, Japan
Aeronomy (ISEA-16)

http://www2.rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp/
isea16/8th International Space Climate Symposium
Sept. 19-22, 2022 Krakow, Poland(SC8)

https://spaceclimate8.uph.edu.pl/

European Space Weather Week 2022

https://www.stce.be/esww2022/

Upcoming Meetings

Oct. 24-28, 2022

Zagreb, Croatia

Summer Space Weather School- Physics and use of tools

In October, 2022

Houphouët Boigny
University, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

AGU Fall Meeting 2022

Dec. 12-16, 2022

Chicago, IL, USA

https://www.agu.org/fall-meeting

IUGG 2023

Jul. 11-20, 2023

Berlin, Germany

https://www.iugg2023berlin.org/

AGU Fall Meeting 2023

Dec. 11-15, 2023

San Francisco, CA,USA

https://www.agu.org/fall-meeting

Please send the information of upcoming meetings to the newsletter editors.

Announcement
12

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

ArticleAnnouncement 1:

SCOSTEP/PRESTO Grants for 2022

S

COSTEP/PRESTO provides annual support for organizing scientific meetings, campaigns and database development. Announcements of opportunity werereleased in early November 2021 with a December 31,
2021 deadline.

Highlight on Young Scientists

Patricia Doherty1
1Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College, Boston, MA, USA

Patricia
DohertyProposals must be related to one or more PRESTO
Pillars and contribute to PRESTO activities. Proposals for these opportunities were announced in October 2021 with a deadline of December 31, 2021.

The following proposals were selected for funding meeting and/or campaigns:
Location of the
Event

Date

Requested
Amount (US$)

Purpose of the Funds

Meeting Support for European Space Weather Week
2022

Mateja Dumbović

Zagreb, Croatia

24-28 October, 2022

$5,000Accommodation and registration feesfor ~6 people

Meeting on Extreme Solar
Particle Storms on Earth

Stepan Poluianov

Rokua, Finland

28-30 March, 2022

$3,000Accommodation and travel expenses
for experts outside Finland

Organization of the 8thInternational Space Climate
Symposium (SC8)

Agnieszka Gil andKalevi Mursula

Krakow, Poland

19-22 September,
2022$5,000Registration fees and living costs foryoung researchers

Meeting Support for theInternational Beacon Satellite Symposium

Keith Groves

Boston, MA, USA

1-5 August, 2022

$5,000Participant expenses for young scientists and/or graduate students toattend the symposium

14th Workshop “Solar
Influences on the Magnetosphere, Ionosphere andAtmosphere”

Boian Kirov and Katya
Georgieva

Primorsko, Bulgaria

6-10 June, 2022

$5,000Registration fees, travel, accommodation and per diem for PhD students, postdocs and young scientists

Purpose of the Funds

Upcoming Meetings

Submitted byMeeting Report

Title

The following proposals were selected for funding database developments:
Project Coordi-

Affiliation

Country

Requested

Database for Unambiguous
identification of Waves in
the Inner Heliosphere(DUWI)

Jiansen He

Peking University

China$5,000Software, manpower, publication,
website maintenance

Database of the ionosonde
and magnetometer data
recorded during the AIEE
campaign in 1992-2001
periodOliver Obrou

Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny

Côte d'Ivoire$5,000Equipment, website design, software
building, travel expenses

Argentinian-Chilean validated ionospheric database

Maria Graciela Molina(Argentina) and Elias
Ovalle (Chile)

Universidad Nacionalde Tucumán andUniversidad Adventistia de Chile

Argentina and Chile$3,400Additional storage in the cloud andserver, ionogram interpreters, software developer

Catalog of Auroral Kilometric Radio emissions forsolar-terrestrial physics

Corentin Louis andCaitriona Jackman

Dublin Institute forAdvanced Studies(DIAS)

Ireland$5,000Software intern to refine the codeand label the AKR bursts and LFEs in
the Wind data

Improvement of GLE database - providing verified
records for systematic
analysis of strong SEP
events and assessment of
their terrestrial effects

Alexander Mishev andIIya Usoskin

University of Oulu

Finland$5,000Software development, summer
student

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

Announcement

Title

13

Announcement 2:

ArticleSCOSTEP 2022 Distinguished Scientist AwardSCOSTEP is pleased to announce that the2022 Distinguished Scientist Award is given toHighlight on Young Scientists

Professor David J. McComas
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings

Citation: For original research, technical leadership and wide-ranging discoveries that have significantly advanced our knowledge and understanding of the global structure and evolution of the solar wind and revolutionized our understanding of its interactive stellar medium.

Professor David McComas is Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, and Vice
President for Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He
has a long record of contributions to Solar-Terrestrial
research in the form of distinguished service and cutting-edge research.

Professor McComas has contributed significantly toexperimental physics, to space plasma physics in themagnetosphere and in the interplanetary medium, and toplasma astrophysics. His work has had major impact ontheoretical descriptions of space physics. His publishedwork is prolific and highly cited, with approximately
750 refereed papers and more than 41,000 citations on
google Scholar. He is a superb leader in service, chairing and participating in key NASA advisory committees, and in the planning of a number of missions of
discovery.

Professor McComas is the principal investigator (PI)of important plasma instruments including the plasma instrument in Ulysses (SWOOPS) and the protonelectron instrument in the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE – SWEPAM). These instruments have been
key in discovering much of what we know about thethree dimensional structure of the heliosphere and theproperties of the interplanetary medium near Earth orbit.
Another major area of accomplishment is the Interstellar
Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, mission, with instrumentsof his design and construction. IBEX has during the past
decade, returned data that for the first time describes theAnnouncement
14David J.
McComasSCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

plasma interaction of the solar system with the interstellar medium. This truly notable accomplishment wasamong the top NASA science stories a few years ago
and continues to inspire many theoretical and numericalstudies to explain these findings. David is also PI of the
IMAP mission, selected in 2018 and scheduled forlaunch in 2024. IMAP will dramatically expand the scientific capabilities of IBEX. IMAP also provides a solar
wind monitor at the L1 Lagrange point, an essential resource for space weather applications. IBEX and IMAP
represent a prodigious legacy of impact on heliosphericphysics.

A

current mission that is very much in the public eye
is the Parker Solar Probe Mission, a monumental
community effort in which Prof. McComas once again
played a key role in leadership and science. David was
Chair of two Science and Technology Definition teams
that formulated both the science and required technology to implement this generational mission. He is, furthermore, PI of the ISOIS suite on the Parker Solar
Probe, consisting of two energetic particle instruments;
these instruments are uniquely responsible for attaining
one of the three major science goals of the mission- tounderstand the origin and propagation of energetic particles in the inner heliosphere.

For all of his accomplishments, Professor David J.
McComas has contributed at the highest level within
the field of SCOSTEP science and is most deserving of
the SCOSTEP Distinguished Science Award.

Announcement 3:

ArticleSCOSTEP 2022 Distinguished Young Scientist AwardSCOSTEP is pleased to announce that the2022 Distinguished Young Scientist Award is given toHighlight on Young Scientists

Dr. Theodosios Chatzistergos
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany

Theodosios
Chatzistergos

Citation: For his tremendous and unprecedented work on exploiting the potential of historical solar observations for cardinal improvement reconstructions of past solar variability, a crucial input to climate models.

D

S

T

heo’s competence, as well as the magnificent quality and thoroughness of his research have alreadybrought high recognition by the international scientificcommunity. He has given invited talks and lectures atinternational conferences and schools. He was invited tojoin the international ISSI team on recalibration of sunspot number series and to lead one of the science topic
teams on the Indian Aditya-L1/SUIT mission, which is
expected to finally shed light on another key question ofsolar irradiance studies: the magnitude of the irradiancevariability in the UV range 200-400 nm. Finally, Theo isalso very actively involved in public outreach activities
focusing on the solar influence on Earth’s climate, byparticipating in the relevant dedicated events and using
internet platforms.

Upcoming Meetingsince 2013, when Theo started working on his PhD
project, his work has focused on uncovering andunderstanding solar magnetic activity over the past centuries, a topic of immense importance for Earth’s climate science and Heliospheric physics. The key input tostudies of long-term solar activity and variability arehistorical solar observations. Unlike the immense richness of data available to those studying the present-day
Sun and the heliosphere, understanding the physics andthe behavior of the Sun on longer time scales has to rely
on data of significantly poorer coverage and quality.
Therefore, historical archives, such as sunspot observations or photographs of the Sun, are of irreplaceablevalue for understanding the long-term changes in the
behavior of the Sun. The information stored in such ar-chives, however, must first be “unlocked”. That is, thehistorical data must often be cleaned of artefacts andcalibrated before they can be used in a meaningful way.
This is where Theo made giant strides. He has literally
produced the key to unlocking the unique potential ofprecious historical solar data. It needs to be stressedthat the correction and analysis of the historical data are
extremely tricky and challenging. But Theo managed tomake almost all the images usable, including many thatoriginally seemed impossible to correct. This work is
beneficial to solar-terrestrial research.

Meeting Reportr. Theodosios (Theo) Chatzistergos obtained his
BSc in Physics (Astrophysics) from the National
and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece (2011),
MSc in Astrophysics, with distinction, from the Queen
Mary University, London, UK (2013), and PhD (2017)from Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany.
Between 2018 and 2020 he was a postdoc at the Istituto
Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy, and is currently a postdoc in the“Solar Variability and Climate” group at the Max
Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen,Germany, working for the project “Modelling and Understanding Solar Irradiance Changes” in frame of theGerman national programme “Role of the Middle Atmosphere in Climate” (ROMIC), closely related to
SCOSTEP.

F

or all of these accomplishments, Dr. Theodosios
Chatzistergos is most deserving of the SCOSTEPDistinguished Young Scientist Award.

Announcement

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31

15

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 300 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:

Eugene Rozanov (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 Stergios Misios (Pillar 3 co-leader)

SCOSTEP Bureau:

Kazuo Shiokawa (President), Daniel Marsh (Vice President), Nat Goplaswamy (Past President),
Patricia Doherty (Scientific Secretary), Mamoru Ishii (WDS), Jorge Chau (URSI), Kyung-Suk
Cho (IAU), Yoshizumi Miyoshi (COSPAR), Renata Lukianova (IAGA/IUGG), Peter
Pilewskie (IAMAS), and Pravata Kumar Mohanty (IUPAP)
website: https://scostep.org.

16

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 31