SCOSTEP/PRESTONEWSLETTER
Vol. 24, July 2020

Inside this issue
Article 1:
An Overview of the Total
and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1)
Mission1

Article 2:
Egyptian Activities in
Solar- Terrestrial Physics

3

Article 3:
The Beginning of 25-th
Solar Cycle

4

Article 4:High-energy Electron
Precipitation Into theatmosphere: an assessment based on balloonborne observations andmodel Calculations (HEPIC)

6

Highlight on Young Scientists 1:
Cornelius Csar Jude H.
Salinas/ Taiwan

8Highlight on Young Scientists 2:
Nithin Sivadas/ USA

9Highlight on Young Scientists 3:
Rachael J Filwett/ USA

11

Announcement 1:
SCOSTEP/PRESTO
Online Seminar

12

Announcement 2:
New Member Countries

12

Announcement 3:
SCOSTEP Visiting Scholars – 202013

Upcoming Meetings

15

Article 1:

An Overview of the Total and Spectral Solar
Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1) Mission

Odele M. Coddington and Thomas N. Woods
Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics,
University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

T

he Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1) launched to theInternational Space Station (ISS) in December, 2017 and has been making daily
measurements of solar irradiance since
early 2018 (Figure 1). The instruments
comprising the TSIS-1 mission are the
Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM), whichmeasures the total solar irradiance (TSI)in Watts per square meter and the Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM), whichmeasures the wavelength-dependent dis-Thomas N.
Woods

Odele M.
Coddington

tribution of solar irradiance, known as thesolar spectral irradiance (SSI), in Watts
per square meter per nanometer. The
TSIS-1 TIM and SIM instruments draw
their heritage from NASA’s SOlar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE)
mission. The SORCE mission was passivated in February, 2020 after providing
more than 17 years of daily solar irradiance observations. TSIS-1 is now
NASA’s flagship solar irradiance mission
and its overall goal is to provide accurate

Figure 1. The TSIS-1 instrument suite on the International Space Station.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

Article
Highlight on Young Scientists

Figure 2. TSI as observed by the SORCE and TSIS-1 TIM instruments during their 2-year overlap period.
Current SORCE and TSIS-1 TIM uncertainties are ~450 ppm (0.6 W/m2) and ~150 ppm (0.2 W/m2), respectively.

Meeting Report
Figure 3. The relative percent difference of the LASP Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) 2008 reference spectrum
to that observed by TSIS-1 SIM.

Upcoming Meetings
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2

TSI and SSI observations to better understand solar
forcing variations and their impacts in the Earth climate
system. The TSIS-1 instruments, like the predecessor
SORCE instruments, were built at University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics(LASP). TSIS-1 solar irradiance data are publicly available from https://lasp.colorado.edu/home/tsis/data.

The need to observe small signals over climate timescales places very exacting requirements on theaccuracy and stability of satellite instrumentation. For
solar irradiance, absolute accuracies of 100 part per million (ppm) in TSI and 2000 ppm (0.2%) for SSI are
needed to understand climate processes. To achieve
such high accuracies the TSIS-1 instruments are characterized as ‘absolute sensors’ in world-class radiometriccalibration facilities built specially at LASP. Determining long-term solar irradiance changes also requiresvery high stability because solar cycle 11-year variations are only 1% at 260 nm, reducing to 0.1% for TSI
and even smaller for near-infrared SSI. The sensitivitiesof the TSIS-1 instruments, similar to SORCE, degrade
as the mission progresses due to exposure to harsh solar
radiation. The SORCE technique to correct for instrument degradation with redundant, and independent, instrument channels that are exposed to the Sun at varying

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

duty cycles is also employed for TSIS-1 instruments.
The channel used daily, and therefore the most degraded over time, is corrected by co-incident irradiance observations by the less-often used channels. The TSIS-1
SIM has an additional channel relative to SORCE SIM
for improved degradation monitoring.

T

hus far, during the first two years of the 5-year
TSIS-1 mission lifetime, solar variability has been
relatively low. Nonetheless, advances in knowledge are
already being made and we look forward to even morefrom the high quality TSIS-1 observations as solar irradiance begins to ramp up in solar cycle 25. We conclude with two key TSIS-1 findings:●●

Observations by the TSIS-1 TIM agree within theuncertainties to the new, lower value of TSI ( ~1361
W m-2) established by the SORCE TIM instrument(Figure 2).
Observations of the Sun’s spectrum by the TSIS-1
SIM, with the best ever accuracy, show differences
approaching 10% at some wavelengths from otherreported solar irradiance spectra (Figure 3), necessitating a new TSIS-1 solar reference spectrum (indevelopment).

Article

Article 2:

Egyptian Activities in Solar- Terrestrial Physics

Researchers in National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) concern in theinfluence of ultraviolet solar radiation EUV on theozone layer of earth, the periodicities in the solar wind
and its correlation with Geomagnetic storms, the effectof solar proton flares on radio communications, nearsatellites orbits, high-latitudes electric grids, ionosphere
electric currents, and polar cap absorption. The variability of solar constant measured from ground stations andartificial satellites and its influence on the earth’s atmosphere was studied. The correlation between the oldsolar activity and the Nile flooding in the ancient Egypt
and the periods of rising and falling of the civilizationof the ancient Egyptians through seven thousand years
was restudied on the base of long data of Nile flooding.

Dalia Elfiky

Highlight on Young Scientists

Dalia Elfiky
Egyptian Space Agency, Cairo, Egypt (*)(*) Egypt has become a new member country of SCOSTEP since 2020.

space environment. The research work includes, but notlimited to, studying the characteristics of the type-II
radio bursts, associated with CMEs and shock waves,using combined observations from the ground-based
Compound Astronomical Low-frequency Low-cost Instrument for Spectroscopy and Transportable Observatory (CALLISTO) stations and the coronagraph onboard
the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. Besides, implementing a warning system to forecast the arrival time of CMEs to Earth based on artificial neural networks.

In Space Weather Monitoring Center (SWMC),
Helwan University the solar physics group, are concerned with monitoring the solar active phenomena
such as the Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), solar flares,
and coronal shock waves, to understand their properties
and to mitigate their negative impact on the terrestrial

Figure 2. (CALLISTO) antenna implementation in
SWMC Helwan University, Egypt.

Upcoming Meetings

he group of solar physics and space weather in Cairo University is focusing on the CME as an important source for disturbances in near Earth space environment. The geoeffective CMEs are: Halo CME( HCME) or partial CME (PCME). There are many crucial questions which we are of interest, regarding
HCMEs and PCMEs and their possible impact to thespace environment: How it originates from the Sun?
How do they propagate and evolve in the inner heliosphere? How can we predict the probability of theirtime of arrival and geo-effectiveness? The answers ofthese questions can provide the possibility to develop
the prediction capability of space weather.

Meeting ReportTAbout Egyptian Space Agency(EgSA), space environment group working in the prediction of spaceenvironment and its effect on satellite subsystems. The
research works comprise but not restricted to, the classifications of the solar active regions (ARs), the effectof solar activities on Atomic Oxygen (AO) densities at
LEO orbits, the ionosphere disturbance using scintillation parameters and its impact on the LEO Satellites
during the Geomagnetic storms, and the space weather
forecasting and warning using artificial Intelligent.

R

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

Announcement

Figure 1. Helwan Observatory

ecently, EgSA submitted “Space Plasma Nanosatellite Experiment Mission” (SPNEx) project to
COSPAR to contribute on establishing a Constellationof Small Satellites for measuring plasma conditions in
the ionosphere. This mission to develop and lunch
small satellite for characterization of Ionospheric variability, in particular space plasma parameters (Density,
temperature, Debye length). The collected data will be
used to improve the model of ionosphere, which will
stimulate studies for space weather and climate change.

3Article

Article 3:

The Beginning of 25-th Solar Cycle

Highlight on Young Scientists

Aleksey A. Golovko
Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics,
Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia

F

orecast of 11-year solar cycle is necessary for planning of human activity, because many phenomena
on Earth, for example climate changes (Maruyama etal., 2017), show correlation with solar activity level. An
adequate information and identification of precursors ofnext activity cycle set the task of forecast into the category of early diagnostics of the cycle beginning. This
makes information about the cycle precursors valuable
and timely for users.

T

Meeting Reporthe concept of precursors and early manifestations ofa new cycle at high heliolatitudes was formulatedby Sheeley (1964), Makarov and Makarova (1996), La
Bonte and Howard (1982), Tlatov (2009). A new cycle
originates in the polar zone, where the polar faculae andbright dots observed in K CaII line arise. This occurs at
the descending phase of previous activity cycle.

We investigated magnetic activity in the middle
latitude zone by using a multifractal segmentation

Aleksey A.
Golovkomethod, described by Levi-Vehel and Vojak (1998),
Golovko and Salakhutdinova (2018). The daily magnetograms of the solar full disk obtained with the SOLIS
vector spectromagnetograph (Henney et al., 2006), wereused. Each segmented image was combined with Stonyhurst grid, and in the middle latitude zones from 40 to
60 degrees, the magnetic knots, which were recognizedby the program as new magnetic fluxes in Ephemeral
Active Regions (EFR), were registered as events. Their
coordinates, as well as magnetic polarity, were recorded.

Statistics of magnetic knots with a size of 3-4” revealed the peak of maximum of the knots population
number during 2007-2008, which preceded by two years
the beginning of the solar cycle 24 (Figure 1). A similar
peak commenced in 2016 gave the prediction of the beginning of cycle 25 during 2019.

Upcoming Meetings
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4

Figure 1. a – Wolf number, b – variation of variation of the new magnetic knots at the middle latitudes, c - view of
middle latitude belt on the Stonyhurst grid.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

Article
Highlight on Young Scientists

Figure 2. The number of magnetic knots in EFRs NEAR in comparison with the number of new ARs NAR during
start of 24-th and 25-th solar cycles.

tatistics of active regions of new solar cycle beganwith appearance of them in the latitude zone from
20 to 40 degrees (Figure 2). Active regions (AR) of the
new 25th cycle have been recorded by observations
since 2017, and in the first quarter of 2019 the numberof them amounted to 12 (in March 2019 NOAA
No.12734-12737). In the second and third quarters their
number decreased slightly (NOAA 12738-12752), but
in the fourth quarter of 2019 there were 13 new cycle
ARs. At the beginning of 2020, ARs 12753, 12755,
12756 of a new cycle arose.

The phenomenon of EARs in the middle latitude
zone can serve a diagnostics of start of new cycle.

References
Golovko A.A. and Salakhutdinova I.I., JSTP 179, 120(2018) doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2018.07.006.

Meeting ReportS

Henney C.J., Keller C.V., Harvey J.W. in: Solar Polarization 4, ASP Conf. Ser. 358, 92 (2006).
LaBonte B.J. and Howard R., Solar Phys., 75, 161(1982).
Levi-Vehel J. and Vojak R., Adv. Appl. Math., 20 ,1(1998).
Makarov V.I. and Makarova V.V., Solar Phys., 163,267 (1996).

Upcoming Meetings

Maruyama F., Kai K., and Morimoto H., Adv. SpaceRes. 60, 1363 (2017).
Tlatov A.G., Solar Physics, 260, 465 (2009).

Announcement

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 245

Article

Article 4:High-energy Electron Precipitation Into the atmosphere:
an assessment based on balloon-borne observations andmodel Calculations (H-EPIC)

Highlight on Young Scientists

Irina Mironova1, Miriam Sinnhuber2, Galina Bazilevskaya3, Vladimir Makhmutov3, Eugene Rozanov4,5, andTimofei Sukhodolov4
1Department of Physics of Earth, Faculty of Physics, St. Petersburg State University,
St. Petersburg, Russia
2Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
3Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
4PMOD/WRC and IAC ETHZ, Davos, Switzerland
5Western Department of Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Waves
Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kaliningrad, Russia

Irina
Mironova

MiriamSinnhuber

Meeting ReportEnergetic electrons during geomagnetic disturbances
precipitate into the Earth atmosphere at high latitudes. Primary collisions with the most abundant species
N2 and O2 start ion- and neutral chemistry reactions
from the upper stratosphere to the lower thermosphere(30-110 km), greatly affecting the neutral chemicalcomposition. Well-known effects are the formation ofNOX (N, NO, NO2, NO3) from dissociation of N2, andthe release of HOx (H, OH, HO2) from positive cluster
ions. NOx partly transforms to NOy species (NOy = NOx

GalinaBazilevskaya

Vladimir
Makhmutov

EugeneRozanov

Timofei
Sukhodolov+ HNO3 + HNO4 + 2 N2O5 + ClONO2) which can betransported down into the stratosphere below 45 km
altitude in large-scale downward motions over polar
latitudes during winter, and destroy ozone there in catalytic cycles, the so-called “Energetic particle precipitation indirect effect”. As ozone plays a key role in theradiative balance of the stratosphere, changes in its concentration directly affect stratospheric temperatures andstart a chain of dynamical coupling mechanisms affecting atmospheric temperatures and circulation over large

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
Figure 1. Balloon-borne observation of energetic electron precipitation. Left panel: a radiosonde in flight withsensors and Geiger counters. Right panel: the count rates of the radiosonde versus atmospheric pressure during
quiet geomagnetic conditions (secondary cosmic rays background) and during HEEP events.

6

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

Articleareas down to the troposphere. Because of its apparent
importance for winter and spring weather systems, it is
now recommended to include energetic particle precipitation as part of the natural solar forcing of the climate
system, e.g., for model studies initiated by the World
Climate Research Programme (WCRP). However, recent analyses of the atmospheric ionization rates basedon satellite-based electron flux observations widelyused in chemistry-climate models suggest a large underestimation of these rates, in particular during and after
geomagnetic storms when high-energy electron precipitation (HEEP) occurs. Observations of atmospheric ionization with the balloon experiment of the Lebedev
Physical Institute provide an important independentsource of information for the evaluation of these data,
extending the useful energy range from hundreds ofkeV to several MeV.

Highlight on Young Scientists

I

Figure 3. Monthly mean response of 60o-90oS meanNOx (upper panel, %) and O3 (lower panel, %) causedby energetic particle precipitation simulated with thechemistry-climate model SOCOL (Rozanov et al.,2012). Color pattern indicates the regions where thechanges are judged statistically significant at or better
than 10% level. Twelve months of the monthly run
climatology are repeated.

Meeting Reportn the frame of our German-Russian cooperation project which started at the beginning of this year, weinvestigate the impact of HEEP events on the chemicalcomposition, temperature and dynamics of the middle
atmosphere (stratosphere and mesosphere) by combining atmospheric ionization rates derived from observations of large HEEP events with a long-time balloon
data-set going back to 1961 (Makhmutov et al., 2016;
Bazilevskaya et al., 2017, see also Fig. 1) with modelsof the middle atmosphere of different complexity: a 1dimensional chemical model with full ion-chemistry(Fig. 2) and global chemistry-climate models (Fig. 3).
Satellite observations of trace constituents are used toevaluate the model performance.

tion for Basic Research (RFBR project № 20-55-12020)and by the German Research Foundation DFG (grant SI
1088/7-1).
References:

Upcoming Meetings

Makhmutov, V.S., Bazilevskaya, G.A., Stozhkov, Yu.I.,
Svirzhevskaya, A.K., and Svirzhevsky, N.S., 2016: Catalogue of electron precipitation events as observed in
the long duration cosmic ray balloon experiment, J. Atmos. Sol.- Terr. Phys., 149, 258–276, doi: 10.1016/
j.jastp.2015.12.006.
Bazilevskaya, G.A., Kalinin, M.S., Kvashnin A.N.,
Krainev, M.B., Makhmutov V.S., Svirzhevskaya A.K.,
Svirzhevsky N.S., Stozhkov Y.I., Balabin Y.V.,
Gvozdevsky B.B., 2017: Precipitation of nergetic Magnetospheric Electrons and Accompanying Solar Wind
Characteristics. Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, 57, 2,
147–155, doi: 10.1134/S0016793217020025.

Acknowledgment

This work is part of the German-Russian cooperation
project "H-EPIC" funded by the Russian Founda-

Announcement

Figure 2. Formation rates of neutral species due to ion
chemistry, calculated by the ion-chemistry model
ExoTIC (e.g., Herbst et al., 2019) for a moderate HEEP
event observed by balloon observations on March 12,
2004, over Murmansk.

Herbst, K., Grenfell, J. L., Sinnhuber, M., Rauer, H.,
Heber, B., Banjac, S., Scheucher, M., Schmidt, V.,
Gebauer, S., Lehmann, R., Schreier, F., 2019: A newmodel suite to determine the influence of cosmic rayson (exo)planetary atmospheric biosignatures – Validation based on modern Earth, Astronomy and astrophysics, 631, A101, doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935888.

Rozanov, E., M. Calisto, T. Egorova, T. Peter and W.
Schmutz, 2012: Influence of the Precipitating Energetic
Particles on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate, Surveys in Geophysics, 33, 3, Page 483-501, doi:10.1007/
s10712-012-9192-0.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

7

Highlight on Young Scientists 1:

ArticleVertical Chemical-Dynamical Coupling Mechanisms behind the Solar-induced Variabilities of the
Mesosphere-Thermosphere-Ionosphere System

Highlight on Young Scientists

Cornelius Csar Jude H. Salinas
Department of Space Science and Engineering, National Central University,
Taoyuan, Taiwan

Space-based technologies (e.g. satellites, GPS, etc.)
are very sensitive to the variabilities of the Mesosphere-Thermosphere-Ionosphere System. Thus, it isimportant we fully understand these variabilities for us
to maintain these technologies. Solar forcing significantly drives the variabilities of this system. However,the physical mechanisms, specifically the role of vertical chemical-dynamical coupling, behind how this system responds to solar forcing is still very unclear (Lee etal, 2018; Lee and Wu, 2020). My research aims to investigate these vertical chemical-dynamical coupling

Cornelius Csar
Jude H. Salinas

mechanisms using satellite observations and first principles Physics-based simulations. In Salinas et al (2018), I
showed how vertical chemical-dynamical coupling
drives the solar cycle response of CO2 in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). This is shownin figure 1. I showed that regions of relatively higher
solar cycle response are driven by the constructive interference of photochemistry, downwelling and reduced
eddy diffusion due to gravity waves. I also showed that
regions of relatively lower solar cycle response are driven by the opposing effects of photochemistry and en-

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
8

Figure 1. Regression coefficients between (a) F10.7 index and CO 2 residual as well as the residual circulation windvectors, (b) F10.7 index and eddy diffusion coefficients, (c) F10.7 index and zonal-mean zonal wind, (d) F10.7
index and gravity wave drag multiplied by 1,000. For more information, please see Salinas et al (2018).

hanced eddy diffusion. These explained the role ofchemical-dynamical coupling in the solar cycle response of CO2 in the MLT. I then explained that all ofthese circulation and eddy diffusion changes are due tosolar cycle-induced changes in the stratosphere. This
show-cased the role of vertical coupling in the solar
cycle response of CO2 in the MLT. I am currently expanding my research to encompass other tracers including H2O, CO and O3, other dynamical phenomena suchas planetary-scale waves and tides as well as other solar
phenomena such as geomagnetic storms. I recently got
accepted for an Associate Earth Scientist Position at theNASA Goddard Space Flight Center under the Universities Space Research Association Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (USRA GESTAR) to
continue my research on these.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

References:
Lee, J. N., & Wu, D. L. (2020). Solar cycle modulationof nighttime ozone near the mesopause as observed by
MLS. Earth and Space Science, 7(4), e2019EA001063.
Lee, J. N., Wu, D. L., Ruzmaikin, A., & Fontenla, J.
(2018). Solar cycle variations in mesospheric carbon
monoxide. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial
Physics, 170, 21-34.

Salinas, C. C. J. H., Chang, L. C., Liang, M. C., Qian,
L., Yue, J., Lee, J. N., ... & Wu, D. L. (2018). Solar cycle response of CO2 over the austral winter mesosphereand lower thermosphere region. Journal of GeophysicalResearch: Space Physics, 123(9), 7581-7597.

Article

Highlight on Young Scientists 2:

The Optical Signature of Energetic Electron
Precipitation from the Radiation BeltT

he nightside dipolar transition region of the Earth’s
magnetosphere that ranges from 6 − 10 RE is most-Highlight on Young Scientists

Nithin Sivadas
Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

Nithin Sivadas

ly unexplored. However, this is a source of energetic
proton and electron precipitation induced by current

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings
Announcement

Figure 1. Overview of optical signature of energetic precipitation from the outer radiation belt boundary: a) T96
magnetic field lines with radius of curvature reaching a minimum near the magnetic equatorial plane - with the
THEMIS-D, -E and NOAA-17 orbit tracks. b) All-sky cameras with northern magnetic footprints of spacecrafts,
showing the large-scale structure of the diffuse aurora correlated with the EEA overlaid with electron count-rates
and anisotropy measurements from NOAA-17 at 11:29:30 UT. c) DASC at Poker Flat, overlaid with MSP
measurements, showing the ionospheric location of the EEA overlapping with the SDA with respect to the proton
aurora. d) Energy flux map of 100 keV electrons estimated from PFISR measurements, correlated with the finescale optical signatures of the SDA. Same as Figure 1 in [3].

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 249

Articlesheet scattering [1], [2]. This mechanism results fromthe pitch angle scattering due to the violation of the first
adiabatic invariant, as the radius of curvature of themagnetic field line in the current sheet becomes smaller
than the gyroradius of the charged particles [2].

THighlight on Young Scientists

he resulting energetic precipitation is a part of theelectron isotropic boundary and the outer radiation
belt boundary. It leaves an auroral signature at high latitudes, especially during strong substorm growth phases.
Such a growth phase leads to a stretching magnetotail
with a radius of curvature at 10 RE less than 0.1 RE,
which is close to gyroradius of electrons ~ 5 − 500 keV(See Figure 1a). Figure 1b) shows the THEMIS-GBO
observations of diffuse aurora, with a pre-breakup (orgrowth-phase) arc during the late growth phase, withmagnetically conjugate footpoints of the NOAA-17
spacecraft. The red spacecraft track indicates the flux of
30-300 keV electron precipitation that peaks at the diffuse aurora’s poleward shoulder.

A

Meeting Reportt Poker Flat, a more detailed image of the diffuse
aurora with Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radarmeasurements of energetic precipitation shows a structured diffuse aurora (SDA) spanning the poleward
shoulder of the diffuse aurora (See Figure 1c). The SDA
spatially and temporally correlates with energetic electron precipitation from the outer radiation belt boundary(See Figure 1d). Moreover, the energetic electron precipitation has a latitudinal energy dispersion corresponding to the magnetic field line’s radius of curvature
at the magnetic equatorial plane [3]. This confirms thelink between the SDA and the outer radiation belt
boundary from the dipolar transition region.

H

Upcoming Meetings

istorically, it was thought that the energy flux ofradiation belt precipitation is not sufficiently highto produce optical emissions. However, in this study,
we found that the energy flux of electrons >30 keVfrom the current sheet scattering was about 1 mW/m2 ,sufficient to produce visible emissions, detectable by ascientific white-light camera [4]. This work demonstrates that precipitation from the dipolar transition re-

Announcement
10

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24gion might have a spatial structure likely associatedwith the source plasma population’s properties or the
scattering mechanism. We have evaluated four otherstrong substorms and found both the SDA and the corresponding energetic electron precipitation. However,
we could find a growth phase conjunction in only one ofthem, suggesting that for around 40% of strong substorm growth phases, we might see auroral signatures ofthe outer radiation belt boundary.
References:[1] E. Spanswick, E. Donovan, L. Kepko, and V. Angelopoulos, “The Magnetospheric Source Regionof the Bright Proton Aurora,” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 44, no. 20, pp. 10,094–10,099,
oct 2017. [Online]. Available: http://
doi.wiley.com/10.1002/2017GL074956.
[2] V. A. Sergeev, E. Sazhina, N. Tsyganenko, J.
Lundblad, and F. Søraas, “Pitch-angle scattering ofenergetic protons in the magnetotail current sheet
as the dominant source of their isotropic precipitation into the nightside ionosphere,” Planetary andSpace Science, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 1147–1155, oct1983. [Online]. Available: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/
pii/0032063383901034?via{%}3Dihub.
[3] N. Sivadas, J. Semeter, Y. Nishimura, and S. Mrak,“Optical Signatures of the Outer Radiation Belt
Boundary,” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 46,
no. 15, pp. 8588–8596, aug 2019. [Online]. Available: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/
abs/10.1029/2019GL083908.
[4] J. E. Borovsky and M. H. Denton, “Electron loss
rates from the outer radiation belt caused by thefilling of the outer plasmasphere: The calm before
the storm,” J. Geophys. Res, vol. 114, p. 11203,
2009. [Online]. Available: https://
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/
pdf/10.1029/2009JA014063.

Article

Highlight on Young Scientists 3:

Examining Energetic Proton Cutoff Rigidities
in the Equatorial MagnetosphereI

am currently a 2nd year Postdoctoral Researcher at
the University of Iowa working with Prof. Allison
Jaynes. My main research interests are in ion acceleration and transport, particularly from solar wind transi-

Highlight on Young Scientists

Rachael J Filwett
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

Rachael J.
Filwett

ents. I am interested in both the interplanetary-mediumtransport effects these ion experience, and the space
weather effects on Earth’s magnetosphere and the magnetospheres of the outer planets.

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings

Figure 1. The 20-200 MeV proton flux for the solar energetic particle event on September 6-9, 2017 is shown in (a).
Two half-orbit flux profiles for 20-60 MeV are shown for REPT-A (b) and REPT-B (c). The flux profile in (b)shows energetic solar protons accessing L<4.

R

REPT. Additionally, using the spin of RBSP I examined
the flux of particles coming from geomagnetic “west”
and “east”. This directional measurement takes advantage of the varying magnetic shielding of gyrocenters inside and outside of the satellite orbit. The ratio of
the west/east flux along with the orbit of RBSP gives a
proxy measurement for cutoff rigidity that can be examined in relation to L-shell and MLT. Future work will
include a statistical study of SEP events over the past
decade, including modeling the relevant current systems
that lead to suppressed cutoff rigidities.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

Announcement

ecently I have been analyzing solar energetic protons using the REPT instrument on the now-retired
Van Allen Probes (RBSP), along with data from the
EPD suite on MMS. These missions provide unique
opportunities to study energetic particle access to theequatorial magnetosphere. My most recent work examined four of the largest solar energetic particle (SEP)
events during the RBSP era. I examined the direct flux
correspondence of SEPs at 1au to the flux observed in
the inner magnetosphere. During geomagnetically quiet
times small flux changes at 1au were measurable by11ArticleAnnouncement 1:

SCOSTEP/PRESTO Online Seminar

Highlight on Young Scientists

Ramon E. Lopez (PRESTO Chair)1 and Kazuo Shiokawa (SCOSTEP President)2
1University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA
2Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE),
Nagoya University, Nagoya, JapanB

eginning in May 2020, SCOSTEP/PRESTO has
begun to hold online seminars routinely. These
online seminars will deliver the latest scientific topics
and/or instructive review presentations of solarterrestrial physics related to SCOSTEP’s PRESTO program to scientists and students in all countries. The
speakers of the seminar are assigned by the PRESTO
Steering Committee. The online seminar will be announced by the SCOSTEP-all and other mailing lists
and on the SCOSTEP website at www.bc.edu/scostep.
The length of the seminar is 60 min (maximum) including 15-min question/discussion time using the Zoom

Kazuo
Shiokawa

meeting system. The seminar is only for scientific purpose and is not for commercial use. With the consent of
the speaker, the seminar will be recorded and madeavailable on the SCOSTEP website. The 1st speaker
was Prof. Kanya Kusano of Institute for Space-EarthEnvironmental Research, Nagoya University, Japan(May 26, 12:00-13:00 UT), with a title of “A challenge
to Physics-based Prediction of Giant Solar Flares”. The
2nd speaker was Prof. Ilya Usoskin of University ofOulu, Finland (July 20, 12:00-13:00 UT), with a title of“Extreme solar events: A new paradigm”.

Meeting Report

Announcement 2:

New Member Countries
Patricia Doherty (SCOSTEP Scientific Secretary)
Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College, Boston, MA, USA

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
12

Ramon E.
Lopez

W
C

e are pleased to announce that Croatia and Egypt
have recently joined SCOSTEP as member countries.

roatia is sponsored by the Zagreb Astronomical
Observatory. The National Adherent Representative is Dr. Dragan Rosa of the Zagreb Astronomical
Observatory. Institutions active in solar-terrestrial physics in Croatia include the Zagreb Astronomical Observatory, the Hvar Observatory of the University of Zagreb
and the Faculty of Geophysics at the University of Zagreb.

E

gypt is sponsored by the Egyptian Space Agency(EgSA) in Cairo, Egypt. The National Adherent
Representative is Dr. Dalia Elfiky of the EgSA. Institutions active in solar-terrestrial physics in Egypt include
Helwan University, the National Research Institute of
Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) and the Faculty ofNavigation Science and Space Technology.

S

COSTEP is actively seeking new member countries.
A membership committee, chaired by Dr. Jorge
Chau of the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics, isactively identifying and reaching out to potential mem-

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

Patricia Doherty

ber countries. Please contact Jorge Chau or Patricia
Doherty for more information.

S

COSTEP has three main activities that address theneeds of the solar terrestrial physics community
worldwide: (1) Scientific programs, (2) Capacity building and outreach, (3) International Scientific Meetings.
A SCOSTEP member country will have a say in thepolicy and functioning of SCOSTEP because the country will be represented in the SCOSTEP Council by a
National Adherent Representative. The National Adherent Representative serves as a close liaison between
SCOSTEP and the respective Adherents. The National
Adherent Representatives also provide valuable advicein establishing the SCOSTEP scientific programs and as
members of the General Council (GC) the Adherents
participate in the governing and decision making of
SCOSTEP.

C

ountries are now invited to apply for membership.
The process begins with a responsible scientificbody writing to the President of SCOSTEP seeking
membership. The application letter should include thefollowing: (i) list of solar-terrestrial physics activities inSCOSTEP affairs including selecting the National Adherent Representative from the solar-terrestrial physics
community to the SCOSTEP General Council (GC) andsending annual dues to the SCOSTEP secretariat.

Articlethe country and the institutions that carry out these activities, (ii) the name and address of the responsible institution, (iii) the membership category, and (iv) the
proposed name of the National Adherent Representative. After approval by the Bureau, the application will
be presented to the SCOSTEP Council, which considers
and acts on the admission of new member nations. In
most countries the Academy of Sciences administersFor more information on country membership applications, please contact the Scientific Secretary(Patricia.Doherty_at_bc.edu).

Highlight on Young Scientists

Announcement 3:

SCOSTEP Visiting Scholars – 2020
Patricia Doherty (SCOSTEP Scientific Secretary)
Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), Boston College, Boston, MA, USAS

COSTEP is pleased to announce the 2020
SCOSTEP Visiting Scholar (SVS) awardees. We
received a record number of applications for 2020. The

GenderKamalam Thillaimaharajan

SVS committee carefully reviewed the many applications and selected the following candidates for awards:

Home Advisor

Host Institute

Host Advisor

F

IIG, Mumbai, India

Prof. Suktisama
GhoshNASA, GSFC, USA

Dr. Nat Gopalswamy

Vanina Lanabere

F

University of Buenos
Aires, Argentina

Dr. Sergio Dasso

NASA, GSFC, USA

Dr. Nat Gopalswamy

Volkan Sarp

M

Akdeniz University,
TurkeyDr. Ali Kilcik

NASA, GSFC, USA

Dr. Nat Gopalswamy

Krushna Chandra BarikM

IIG, Mumbai, India

Dr. Satyavir Singh

Kyushu University,
Japan

Dr. Akimasa Yoshikawa

Jordi Tuneu

M

CRAAM, Brazil

Guilermo Gimenez
de Castro

NASA, GSFC, USA

Dr. Nat Gopalswamy

Ishita Gulati

F

Newcastle University, Prof. Satnam Dlay
UK
(Newcastle Univ.)

IIG, Mumbai, India

Dr. S. Sripathi

Alemayehu Mangesha
Cherkos

M

Addis Ababa Universi- Melessew Nigussie
ty, Ethiopia(Bahir Dar)

ISEE, Nagoya, Japan

Prof. Yoshizumi
MiyoshiM

ISRO, India

Dr. Kishore Kumar

Biswajit Ojha

M

IIG, Mumbai, India

Dr. Satyavir Singh

NASA, GSFC, USA

Dr. David Sibeck

Dibyendu Sur

M

University of Calcutta,
Dr. Ashik Paul
India

NASA, GSFC, USA

Dr. Shing Fung

Ayomide Olabode

M

Obafemi Awolow
University, Nigeria

Dr. Babatunde Rabiu
and Dr. Olawale
IIG, Mumbai, India
BolajiAnnouncement

N. Koushik

Leibniz Institute ofAtmospheric Phys- Dr. Franz-Josef Lubics, Rostock Universi- ken
ty, Germany

Upcoming Meetings

Home Institute

Meeting Report

Name

Patricia Doherty

Dr. Gopi Seemala

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

13

Name

ArticleGenderHome InstituteHome Advisor

Host Institute

Host Advisor

M

Bahir Dar University,
Ethiopia

Melessew Nigussie(Bahir Dar)

SANSA, South Africa

Lee-Anne McKinnell

Maya Prabhakar

F

Indian Institute od
Astrophysics, Bangalore

Dr. K. P. Raju

National Astronomical Observatories,
Chinese Academy of
Sciences

Dr. Yihua Yan

Ephrem Tesfeye DestaM

Addis Ababa UniversiTigistu Haile (AAU)ty, Ethiopia

NASA, GSFC, USA

Dr. Mei-Ching Fok

Angelikus OllaM

Bandung Institute ofTechnology, Indonesia

Dr. Wahyu Srigutomo

ISEE, Nagoya, Japan

Prof. Kazuo Shiokawa

Han MaF

Institute of Geology/
Geophysics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences

Prof. Libo Liu

Kyushu University,
Japan

Dr. Huixin Liu

MTechnical Universityof KenyaProf. Paul Baki and
Dr. Joseph Ouko
Olwendo

NASRDA, Abuja,
NigeriaDr. Babatunde Rabiu
and Dr. Daniel Okoh

Habtamu Marew Alemu

Highlight on Young Scientists

George Ochieng OndedeD
Meeting Reportue to COVID related travel restrictions, the awardees have had to reschedule the timing of their visits. We are hopeful that they can be held before the endof June 2021. At this time, we are still finalizing thetiming of the SVS visits – coordinating times with theawardees and the host institutions.

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
14

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

S

COSTEP thanks the SVS award committee led by
Dr. John Raymond.

Congratulations to the SVS 2020 awardees!

Upcoming meetings related to SCOSTEP
LocationContact Information

SCAR —> canceled

Jul. 31-Aug. 11,
2020

Hobert, Australia

https://
www.scarcomnap2020.org/

URSI General Assembly and Scientific Sym- Aug. 29-Sep.5,
posium (GASS2020) —> postponed to 2021 2020

Rome, Italy

https://www.ursi2020.org/

AGU Fall Meeting 2020 (mostly virtual)Dec. 7-11, 2020

San Francisco, CA,USA

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

43rd COSPAR Scientific AssemblyJan. 28-Feb. 4,
2021

Sydney, Australia

https://www.cospar2020.org/

School on Describing and Analyzing Solar
Data for a better prediction of Space Weath- Feb. 14-18, 2021
er

Kigali, Rwanda

https://ur.ac.rw/?School-onDescribing-and-Analyzing-SolarData-for-a-better-prediction-ofSpaceEGU General Assembly 2021

Apr. 25-30, 2021

Vienna, Austria

IAMAS

Jul. 18-23, 2021

Busan, Korea

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

Suntec, 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/

The 30th IUPAP General Assembly

Oct. 20-22, 2021

Beijing, China

AGU Fall Meeting 2021

Dec. 13-17, 2021

New Orleans, LA,USASCOSTEP’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

Upcoming Meetings

Aug. 1-6, 2021

Meeting Report

AOGS 2021

https://www.asiaoceania.org/
aogs2021/public.asp?
page=home.html

Highlight on Young Scientists

Date

ArticleConference

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

http://
www.cosparathens2022.org/

Announcement

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

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 24

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 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:

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. 24