SCOSTEP/PRESTONEWSLETTER
Vol. 34, January 2023

Inside this issue
Article 1:
Interoperable Database
for Citizen Science Observations of STEVE

1Article 2:
Development of ionosonde and magnetic
data based in Cote d’Ivoire

4

Article 3:
The Argentinian-Chilean
Validated Ionospheric
Database (ACVID)

5

Article 4:
Improvement of GLE
database - providing
verified records for systematic analysis ofstrong SEP events andassessment of theirterrestrial effects

7

Highlight onYoung Scientists 1:
Kevin Pham / USA

9

Article 1:

Interoperable Database for Citizen Science Observations of STEVE

Michael Hunnekuhl1
1Independent Scientist, Germany

S

TEVE (Strong Thermal Emission
Velocity Enhancement) is a subauroral aurora-like phenomenon that is related to untypical high temperatures andion drift velocities in SAID (Subauroral
Ion Dr ift). Citizen Scientists r ecog-

MichaelHunnekuhl

nized the peculiarity of this phenomenon
and brought it to the attention of the scientific community. Figures 1 and 2 show
photographs from two STEVE observations in Canada. MacDonald et al. [1]reported for the first time on the connec-

Meeting Report 1:
11
The 10th VERSIM workshop

Meeting Report 2:
European Space
Weather Week 2022

11

12
Meeting Report 3:
International Workshop
on Machine Learning
for Space Weather:
Fundamentals, Tools
and Future Prospects
Meeting Report 4:
5th edition of the IMAO
school in Côte d'Ivoire

13

Upcoming Meetings

14

15
Announcement 1:
SCOSTEP Bureau meeting on 18 November
2022

Figure 1. Steve observed on April 10 2018 in Alberta, Canada. Credit: Alexei
Chernenkoff.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

Article
Highlight on Young Scientists

tion of STEVE with SAID. Follow-on studies, severalof them utilizing citizen science images [2–9], reveal amultitude of previously unknown aurora-untypical characteristics e.g., STEVE’s spectral composition, height,
not-field aligned optical structures in the lower height
regime of STEVE, and its location. Although opticalstructures that we now associate with STEVE have occasionally been reported by aurora observers in the past
and are sporadically mentioned in older literature [10–12], this phenomenon has hardly been studied before
citizen scientists noticed aurora-untypical characteristics
of STEVE [13].

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itizen science observations are still of great importance for the research on STEVE. They help to
localize the regions where STEVE occurs and allow thedetection of its extent and structure from different perspectives with a high spatial and temporal resolution
down to the sub-1s time regime not covered by professional ground instruments. This enables the analysis ofsmall-scale and short-lived substructures in STEVE by
combining contemporaneous images from different locations [9, 14]. Citizen science images also add groundtruth to satellite data and allow the identification of yet
unknown substructures in STEVE due to the high spatial and temporal resolution that consumer digital cameras can achieve today.

Figure 3. Statistic for citizen science observations of
STEVE. Days with STEVE observations per year forthe period January 1999 to November 2022.

Meeting ReportAn interoperable database for citizen science observations of STEVE is now available [15]. This database summarizes 1000+ single observations that havebeen reported by aurora observers with images or videos in social media and other publicly accessible sources.
The listed observations cover the period from January
1999 to November 2022. Figures 3 and 4 show thenumbers of observation days per year and month forlisted observations reported with date and time. The
database includes observations with date and time for
217 days and important metadata e.g., date, time, loca-

Figure 4. Statistic for citizen science observations of
STEVE. Days with STEVE observations per month forthe period January 1999 to November 2022.

Upcoming Meetingstion, and geomagnetic data. A detailed description of
the database and its content was recently presented at
the AGU fall meeting [16]. Further details like selection
criteria for listed observations, optical substructures
identified in STEVE, and the Terms of Use are summarized in eight supplemental documents released with the
database [15].

T

he database was developed as a freely accessible
tool giving full access to the implemented data. It isa useful tool that helps to identify STEVE events thatcan be studied in detail through a combination of citizen
science data and data from professional ground- andspace-based instruments.
References:

Announcement[1] MacDonald, E. et al.(2018). New science in plainsight: Citizen scientists leads to the discovery of opticalstructure in upper atmosphere, Science Advances, 4 (3),eaaq0030. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaq0030[2] Archer, W. E. et al. (2019). The Vertical Distribution of the Optical Emission of a STEVE and Picket
Fence Event, Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (19),10719–10725. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084473
Figure 2. Steve observed on August 29 2022 in
Manitoba, Canada. Credit: Donna Lach.

2

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34[3] Chu, X. et al. (2020). Morphological Characteristicsof Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement
Emissions, JGR Space Physics, 125e, e2020JA028110.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA028110

[6] Mende, S. B. and Turner, C. (2019). Color Ratios of
Subauroral (STEVE) Arcs, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127 (7), 5945–5955. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JA026851[7] Mende, S. B. et al. (2019). Subauroral Green STEVE Arcs: Evidence for Low-Energy Excitation, Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 14256-14262. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086145[8] Nishimura, Y. et al. (2019). Magnetospheric Signatures of STEVE: Implications for the Magnetospheric
Energy Source and Interhemispheric Conjugacy, Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 5637–5644. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082460[10] Hunnekuhl, M. and MacDonald, E. (2020). Early
Ground-Based Work by Auroral Pioneer Carl Størmer

[12] Hunnekuhl, M. and MacDonald, E. (2019). A newdataset of STEVE phenomenon related observations
spanning multiple solar cycles, AGU fall meeting
presentation, session SM11C-3299. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/A5NU3[13] Størmer, C. (1935). Remarkable Aurora-Forms
from Southern Norway. I. Feeble Homogeneous Arcs ofGreat Altitude, Geofysiske Publiskasjoner, 11 (5).
http://www.ngfweb.no/geophysica_norvegica.html#toppen[14] Hunnekuhl, M. et al. (2021). Robust techniques toimprove high quality triangulations of contemporaneous
citizen science observations of STEVE, AGU fall meeting presentation, session SA35F. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KB62D[15] Hunnekuhl, M. (2022). STEVE event list v2.2,
Open Science Framework. https://doi.org/10.17605/
OSF.IO/YTDZV[16] Hunnekuhl, M. and MacDonald, E. (2022). Interoperable Database for Citizen Science Observationsof STEVE, AGU fall meeting presentation, session
SH51D. https://doi.org/10.22541/
essoar.167214489.91300242/v1

Meeting Report[9] Semeter, J. et al. (2020). The Mysterious Green
Streaks Below STEVE, AGU Advances, 1(4),e2020AV000183. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020AV000183[11] Hunnekuhl, M. (2019). Historical STEVE candidates, Open Science Framework. http://
doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WJGDS

Highlight on Young Scientists[5] Martinis, C. et al. (2022). Rainbow of the Night First
Direct Observation of a SAR Arc Evolving Into STEVE, Geophysical Research Letters, 49,
e2022GL098511. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098511

on the High-Altitude Detached Subauroral Arcs Now
Known as “STEVE”, Space Weather, 18 (3). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019SW002384

Article[4] Martinis, C. et al. (2021). First Simultaneous Observation of STEVE and SAR Arc Combining Data From
Citizen Scientists, 630.0 nm All-Sky Images, and Satellites, Geophysical Research Letters, 48 (8),e2020GL092169. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL092169

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 343

Article

Article 2:

Development of ionosonde and magnetic data based in
Cote d’Ivoire

Highlight on Young Scientists

Oliver Kouadio Obrou1
1Université Félix Houphouët BoignyDuring the International Equatorial Electrojet Year
(1992–1993) (translated in french as l’Année Internationale de l’Electrojet Equatorial, (AIEE)); several
instruments were installed in countries located along themagnetic equator. Among others, the city of Korhogo(Latitude: 9◦33’ N; Longitude: 5◦46’O; dip Latitude: 0.67◦) in Cote d’ivoire received an ionosonde (type IPS42 of Kel Aerospace) that was used to collect iono-

Oliver Kouadio
Obrou

following decade. The equipment was vandalized during this period. The raw data were available, however,they were saved on several hard drives scattered inmany places (mostly in Korhogo and Abidjan). This
project is an opportunity to secure the data and makethem available for the scientific community. This database is accessible online at the following web address
https://ufrssmt.edu.ci/lasmes. The data are made availa-

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
4

Figure 1. An overview of the web page showing how to download the raw ionosonde data.

spheric data for almost a decade, spanning from 1992 to
2001. In addition, a chain of ten magnetometers acrossthe magnetic equator during the same campaign (AIEE),
was used to collect magnetic data covering a shorter
period (1993-1994). The ionosonde’s data collection
was a success until it was interrupted by the 2002 rebellion, which divided the country into two parts for the

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

ble freely under certain circumstances. The user is entitled to download the raw data or plot the processed ones
online. We are grateful to the SCOSTEP/PRESTO program which has provided the means to achieve this goal
for the benefit of the scientific community. We plan toinclude the GNSS data to this database in the near future.

Article

Article 3:

The Argentinian-Chilean Validated Ionospheric Database (ACVID)

Elias Ovalle

Jorgelina
López

Benjamín
Urra

Miguel Nacud

Jorge Namour

Sergio Tarulli

Miguel Martinez-Ledesma

Lorenzo
PasqualeTTo solve this constraint, we aim to create and maintain the first validated ionospheric database for ionosonde measurements of the southern region of Latin
America (i.e., the Argentinian-Chilean-validated ionospheric database, ACVID). This project was initiatedwith the support of the SCOSTEP/PRESTO programand currently involves 11 persons among researchers,interpreters, and programmers.

T

his is an international and multi-institutional effort
to provide open access and validated data(manually corrected) to the scientific community. Although automatic scaling is essential for space weather
studies, the algorithms used usually fail to scale somefeatures of ionograms or may have considerable estimation errors. Thus, manual correction is required to add
reliability to the data (crucial for climatological studies).
Moreover, such validated data is required to generatereference curves and trends that help to understand the
dynamics and morphology of possible irregularities, andalso can be used to issue space weather alerts when significant changes from the reference occurred. Therefore,
this work focuses on the manual scaling of raw dataobtained from the ionosondes deployed at institutions
within the collaboration and the integration of all themeasurements from both countries into a centralized

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

Announcement

he ionosphere of the Southeast region of Latin
America has a large variability due to its multiple
local and global interconnections (such as the EIA, SAMA, etc.). Nevertheless, this area is known to be highly
undersampled and requires a large observational effort
to fully understand its global dynamics and internal teleconnections. Nowadays, thanks to the ubiquity of GNSS
receivers, there exist different national GNSS networks
that allow TEC measurements along the South American continent. Even so, up to date, very few studies
have considered the vertical distribution of the ionosphere of such a geographic region, and the information
about the layers' distribution and dynamics is key tosolving its multiple unknowns and improving the accuracy of current ionospheric models.

Upcoming Meetings

Manuel A.
Bravo

Meeting Report

M. Graciela
MolinaHighlight on Young Scientists

M. Graciela Molina1,2,3,4, Manuel A. Bravo5,6, Elias Ovalle5,6,7, Jorgelina López9, Benjamín Urra5,6, MiguelNacud10, Jorge Namour1,2, Sergio Tarulli1,2, Miguel Martinez-Ledesma6,8, and Lorenzo Pasquale10
1Tucumán Space Weather Center (TSWC), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología (FACET), Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (UNT), Tucumán, Argentina
2Laboratorio de Computación Científica (LabCC), Dpto de Ciencias de la Computación, FACET-UNT, Tucumán, Argentina
3Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones científicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
4Istituto Nazionale Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy
5Centro de Instrumentación Científica, Universidad Adventista de Chile, Chillán, Chile
6Centro Interuniversitario de Física de Alta Atmósfera (CInFAA), Chile
7Departamento de Geofísica, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
8Centro Para la Instrumentación Astronómica (CePIA), Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
9Centro de Investigación de Atmósfera Superior y Radiopropagación (CIASUR), FRT-UTN, Tucumán, Argentina
10Laboratorio Ionosférico de Bahía Blanca, Dpto. Ing. Electrónica, FRBB-UTN, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

5

Article
Highlight on Young Scientists

database that will be available in the Tucumán Space
Weather
Center
TSWC
portal(https://spaceweather.facet.unt.edu.ar/). Currently, in Argentina,
there are two AIS-INGV (Tucumán and Bahía Blanca)
deployed in collaboration with INGV, both providing
continuous autoscaled data in real-time. While in Chile,
there is a single IPS-42 ionosonde providing ionospheric measurements but its ionograms are manually scaled(there is no automatic scaling) under request and forspecific periods (see Figure 1). In addition, the Chilean
ionosonde is not installed in a single place but it can be
relocated to two main locations within the country, in
Chillán and in La Serena. It is worth mentioning that theArgentinian and Chilean ionosonde locations present
similar latitudes. Hence, studies of Chillán (36.6°S,
72.0°W) - Bahía Blanca (38.7°S, 62.3°W), and Tucumán (26.9°S, 65.4°W) - La Serena (29.9°S, 71.3°W)
would provide the possibility to carry out simultaneous
analyses on different sides of the Andes, for example
for the study of AGWs/TIDs or under particular campaigns such as solar eclipses (Barbás De Haro et al.,2021; Bravo et al., 2020; 2022).

Figure 1. Map and location of each ionospheric station.

C

information besides the standard corrected measurement(e.g. detailed information using descriptive letters).

Meeting Reporturrently, the ACVID has two modes for data retrieval: (a) online selection of already validated
data (for download or for plotting); (b) under request,
for specific time intervals, with different resolutions
when possible, and with the possibility to add additional

F

igure 2 shows a couple of corrected ionograms, thefirst from Tucumán and the other from La Serena.

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
Figure 2. An example of (a) an ionogram from Tucumán which automatic scaling software was not giving optimalvalues, requiring an interpreter, and (b) an ionogram from La Serena manually scaled.

6

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

n summary, the Argentinian-Chilean-validated ionospheric database (ACVID) is a new tool open to thecommunity that allows access to quality data from ionosonde measurements in the southern region of Latinoamerica.
References:“First report of an eclipse from Chilean ionosonde observations: Comparison with total electron content estimations and the modeled maximum electron concentration and its height” (2020). M. Bravo, M. Martínez-“Ionospheric Response Modeling under Eclipse Conditions: Evaluation of December 14, 2020, Total Solar
Eclipse Prediction over the South American sector” (2022). Manuel A Bravo , María Graciela Molina,
Miguel Martinez-Ledesma, Blas de Haro Barbás, B.
Urra, A. G. Elias, J. Rodrigues de Souza, C. Villalobos,
J. Namour, E. Ovalle, J. V. Venchiarutti, S. Blunier, J.
C. Valdés-Abreu, E. Guillermo, E. Rojo, L. de Pasquale, E. Carrasco, R. Leiva, C. Castillo Rivera, A. Foppiano, M. Milla, P. Muñoz, M. Stepanova, J. Valdivia
and M. Cabrera. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.1021910.

Highlight on Young Scientists“Longitudinal variations of ionospheric parameters near
totality during the eclipse of December 14,
2020” (2021). B. Barbás De Haro, M. Bravo, A.G. Elias, M. Martínez-Ledesma, G. Molina, B. Urra, J.V.
Venchiarutti, C. Villalobos, J.H. Namour, E. Ovalle,
E.D. Guillermo, E. Carrasco, L. De Pasquale, E. Rojo,
R. Leiva. Advances in Space Research, Volume 69,
Issue 5, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2021.12.026.

Ledesma, A. Foppiano, B. Urra, E. Ovalle, C. Villalobos, J. Souza, E. Carrasco, P. R. Muñoz, L. Tamblay,
P. Vega-Jorquera, J. Marín, R. Pacheco, E. Rojo, R.
Leiva, M. Stepanova. Journal of Geophysical Research:
Space Physics, 125, e2020JA027923. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA027923.

ArticleI

Article 4:

Alexander Mishev1,2
1Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
2Space Physics and Astronomy Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandAwidely used multi-instrument for GLE registrationis the global neutron monitor network (Mishev andUsoskin 2020). Over the years, NMs have been successfully used for continuous recording of CRs intensity andtheir variations. Accordingly, a database of NM data
covering the period over several solar cycles of GLEs
registration exists, which gives the basis for their analysis (Usoskin et al., 2020).

B

oth GCRs and SEPs are the most significant contributor to various terrestrial effects such as theincreased, relative to ground level, radiation exposure ofaircrew, specifically over the polar region, as well as theincreased atmospheric ionization. In order to assess
those effects, a detailed study is necessary, considering
explicitly features of SEPs, namely their spectral shapes
as well as their time evolution during major solar proton
events.

Announcementn omnipresent flux of high-energy particles, that iscosmic rays, consisting mostly of protons and alpha-particles enter in the Earth's atmosphere and produce a complicated nuclear-electromagnetic-meson cascade. In the cascade fraction of the initial primary particle energy reaches the ground as secondaries, eventually
being registered by convenient instruments, whilst the
majority is dissipated by ionization of the ambient air.
The majority of cosmic rays (CRs) originate from the
Galaxy known as galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). The
Earth is sporadically hit by solar energetic particles(SEPs), accelerated during explosive energy releases on
the Sun. Occasionally, when the energy of the SEPs isin the GeV range, they can produce an atmospheric cascade similarly to GCRs, whereas the secondary particles
being registered by neutron monitors (NMs). These
events are called ground-level enhancements (GLEs)(Aschwanden, 2012; Poluianov et al., 2017).

Alexander
Mishev

Upcoming Meetings

A

Meeting Report

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

I

t is known that CRs are the main source of ionizationin the troposphere and stratosphere and determine thecomplex radiation field at aviation altitudes. The effectof energetic particles of galactic or solar origin entering
into the Earth’s atmosphere on atmospheric physics andchemistry is a topic of increased interest over the lastyears (Bazilevskaya et al., 2008; Rozanov et al., 2012;
Mironova et al., 2015) as well as the assessment of aircrew exposure (ambient dose) due to CR, specifically

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

7

Articleduring GLEs (Lilensten and Belehaki, 2009 ;Vainio etal, 2009). For reliable assessment of those effects it isnecessary to possess the corresponding basis, that istrustworthy NM records, which allow one to performthe analysis.

H

ere we revised the existing international databaseof GLEs (Usoskin et al., 2020) and corrected erro-

neous records in sense of time synchronization, jumps,
and caveats. Accordingly, the corresponding documentation was created. The GLE DB [http://gle.oulu.ﬁ] isstored in MySQL on a server belonging to the University of Oulu, Finland. The GLE DB possesses a convenient interface that allows quick look and access as wellas to query any event and any station upon request(Figure 1).

Highlight on Young Scientists
Meeting Report

Figure 1. Screenshot of the relative count rate increases for GLE # 5 stored in the GLE database.

T

Upcoming Meetings

here are several methods for the reconstruction of
GLE particle characteristics, namely their spectral
and angular features using NM data (e.g. Cramp et al.,
1997; Vashenyuk et al., 2006; Mishev et al., 2022). In
general, the analysis of GLEs using records stored in the
GLE database is based on modeling of the global NM
network (Figure 2) response with n model parameters
and optimizing the modeled response over m experimental data points, that is, the number of NMs. In sucha way it is possible to unfold the spectra, pitch angle
distribution, and apparent source position of GLEcausing SEPs, using the geomagnetosphere as a giant
spectrometer. Since GLE events differ from each otherin sense of spectra, anisotropy, evolution and duration,
only individual events can be considered. Therefore, foreach event, it is necessary to possess the corresponding
verified NM record. This means that for every event
each NM record must be checked for errors, which shallbe eventually identified and corrected, achieved in theframe of this task.

Announcement

References:10, 17, 2020

Aschwanden, M. Space Sci. Rev., 171 (1-4), 3–21, 2012

Mishev A. L., et al., Solar Physics 297, 88, 2022

Bazilevskaya, G.A., et al., Space Sci. Rev., 137, 149–
173, 2008

Rozanov E. et al., Surveys in Geophysics, 33(3-4), 483501, 2012

Cramp, J., M. et al., J. Geophys. Res., 102 (A11), 24237–24248, 1997.

Usoskin I. et al., Astron. Astrophys., 640, A17, 2020

Lilensten, J., and A. Belehaki. Acta Geophys., 57 (1), 1–14, 2009
Mironova, I., et al., Space Science Reviews, 96, 2015
Mishev A., I. Usoskin, J. Space Weather Space Clim.

8

Figure 2. Map of the current global NM network, circa
December 2022.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

Vainio, R. et al., Space Science Reviews, 147 (3-4),
187–231, 2009
Vashenyuk, E., et al., Adv. Space Res., 38 (3), 411–417,
2006

Article

Highlight on Young Scientists 1:

Pathways of Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere
CouplingCI

n investigating the effect of electrodynamic couplingon geospace, we employed the Multiscale Atmosphere Geospace Environment (MAGE) model that couples the magnetosphere, ring current, and ionospherethermosphere at high resolution. As seen in Figure 1,
MAGE results show neutral density signatures thatmatch those observed by CHAMP and GRACE spacecraft significantly better than empirical specifications
Weimer (Weimer, 2005) (Figure 1). Surprisingly,

Kevin Pham

MAGE’s improvement at low latitudes is due to its production of realistic traveling atmospheric disturbancesthat transport perturbations globally (Pham et al., 2022).

W

e begin simulating the importance of mass coupling by performing a simple numerical experiment. When physics-based ion outflow is added to the
MAGE modeling suite, changes in irradiance of themodel thermosphere corresponding to solar minimum
and maximum produce different ion transport paths
through the lobes and different magnetotail states(Figure 2): an asymmetric tail (top) and a symmetric tail(bottom) (Pham et al., 2021). This controlled experiment proves that a physics-based ion outflow model isrequired to fully understand the dynamics of the geospace system.

Meeting Report

omplex interactions between the magnetosphere,
ionosphere and thermosphere can have profoundconsequences for geospace. They entail electrodynamic
coupling and mass exchange, acting both independently
and cooperatively. Modeling of the electrodynamic
coupling allows phenomena such as solar flares (Liu etal) and solar eclipses (Chen et al.) illustrates how they
can influence all geospace. In addition, simulations of
the mass coupling between regions proposed pathways
for inducing global sawtooth oscillations (Brambles etal., 2011) and determines whether dayside reconnection
is locally or globally controlled (Zhang et. al., 2017).

Highlight on Young Scientists

Kevin Pham1
1High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USAT

he results of these studies suggest that the different
coupling pathways within geospace cannot be treated in isolation. Efforts to physically describe and model
the various regions are necessary to investigate the global consequences of local phenomena.

Upcoming Meetings
Announcement

Figure 1. Comparison of the neutral density observed by CHAMP (black), simulated using the WEIMER empirical specification of the high latitude convection (blue), and simulated using the MAGE whole geospace coupledmodel (red). MAGE reproduces the observed 1-minute resolution neutral density more faithfully.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 349

Article
Highlight on Young Scientists
Meeting Report

Figure 2. Log density of O+ population (color scale) in the magnetospheric equatorial plane for simulation with 80(top) and 230 (bottom) solar flux units for the solar irradiance in the thermosphere. White contours correspond tothe magnetic x-line.

References:
Brambles, O. J., Lotko, W., Zhang, B., Wiltberger, M.,
Lyon, J., & Strangeway, R. J. (2011). Magnetospheresawtooth oscillations induced by ionospheric outflow.
Science, 332(6034), 1183–1186. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.120286

Upcoming Meetings

Chen, X., Dang, T., Zhang, B., Lotko, W., Pham, K.,
Wang, W., et al. (2021). Global effects of a polar solar
eclipse on the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere system. Geophysical Research Letters, 48,e2021GL096471. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096471
Liu, J., W. Wang, L. Qian, W. Lotko, A. Burns, K.
Pham, G. Lu, S. Solomon, L. Liu, W. Wan, B. Anderson, A. Coster, F. Wilder (2021). Solar flare effects inthe Earth’s magnetosphere. Nature Physics, 17, 807–
812. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-021-01203-5
Pham, K. H., Lotko, W., Varney, R., Zhang, B., Liu, J.
(2021). Thermospheric impact on the magnetosphere

Announcement
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SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

through ionospheric outflow. Journal of GeophysicalResearch: Space Physics, 126, e2020JA028656. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA028656

Pham, K. H., Zhang, B., Sorathia, K., Dang, T., Wang,
W., Merkin, V., et al. (2022). Thermospheric density
perturbations produced by traveling atmospheric disturbances during August 2005 storm. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127,e2021JA030071. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JA030071
Weimer, D. R. (2005), Improved ionospheric electrodynamic models and application to calculating Joule
heating rates, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A05306,
doi:10.1029/2004JA010884.
Zhang, B., O. J. Brambles, P. A. Cassak, J. E. Ouellette,
M. Wiltberger, W. Lotko, and J. G. Lyon (2017), Transition from global to local control of dayside reconnection from ionospheric-sourced mass loading, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 122, 9474–9488, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JA023646.

Article

Meeting Report 1:

The 10th VERSIM workshop

Highlight on Young Scientists

Claudia Martinez-Calderon1
1Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University,
Nagoya, JapanClaudia
Martinez-CalderonT

he 10th VERSIM workshop was held on November
7 – 11, 2022 in Sodankylä, Finland in a hybrid format with 17 online and 35 in-person presentations (11talks by ECRs and 6 by students). As VERSIM is ahighly international community, we had 68 participantsfrom 14 different countries including the United States,
Japan, New Zealand, India, Korea, China, and multiple
European nations. The presentations ranged across avariety of topics including both data analysis and theoretical studies, effects of lightning-generated whistlers,
non-linear wave-particle interactions, the response of
the D-region, pulsating aurora, simultaneous wave/
particle events, etc.

Figure 1. A group photo of the participants of VERSIM 2022.

Meeting ReportW

e also held the 1st VERSIM School on the weekend before the workshop with 4 lecturers and 14
participants (including 4 students and 8 ECRs). The
school had introductory tutorials over an array of VERSIM topics given by experts of the community and in-cluded a visit to the Sodankylä Geophysics Observatory
and the VLF receiver at Kannuslehto.

Meeting Report 2:

European Space Weather Week 2022
Upcoming Meetings

Mateja Dumbović1
1Hvar Observatory, Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb

MatejaDumbovićTT

he meeting brought together diverse groups working on different aspects of Space Weather andSpace Climate: scientists, engineers, satellite operators,
power grid technicians, communication and navigation
specialists, people working in aviation, space weather
service providers. ESWW’s scientific sessions and topical discussion meetings covered the full chain of Sun-to-Earth space weather and space climate-related topics

Figure 1. Official design for the ESWW2022.

Announcement

he European Space Weather Week (ESWW) took
place in hybrid form in Zagreb, Croatia 2428.10.2022. and was supported by SCOSTEP. The
meeting had 325 in-person and 140 online participantsfrom 47 countries, giving in total 142 talks and presenting in total 216 posters.

such as solar eruptions in the solar atmosphere as wellas in the interplanetary space, solar energetic particles,
Earth's magnetosphere and radiation belts, ionosphericinteractions, solar activity influence on cosmic rays anddifferent layers of the Earth atmosphere, etc. Full meeting information is available at the meeting website:
https://www.stce.be/esww2022.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

11

Article

Meeting Report 3:

International Workshop on Machine Learning for Space
Weather: Fundamentals, Tools and Future Prospects

Highlight on Young Scientists

M. Graciela Molina1,2,3,4 and Yenca Migoya-Orué5
1Tucumán Space Weather Center (TSWC), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología(FACET), Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (UNT), Tucumán, Argentina
2Laboratorio de Computación Científica (LabCC), Dpto de Ciencias de la Computación, FACET-UNT, Tucumán, Argentina
3Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones científicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
4Istituto Nazionale Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy
5The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) , Trieste, Italy

M. Graciela
MolinaMeeting Report
Upcoming MeetingsThe International Workshop on Machine Learning
for Space Weather was held in the CONAE headquarters (Argentinian Space Agency) Buenos Aires,
Argentina from 7 to 11 November 2022, in a hybrid
mode. As an outside ICTP activity it had a regional
scope in Latin America, where this kind of activity was
the first of its kind. A total of 78 participants (17 onsite
and 61 online) and 23 speakers represented 32 countries. Most of the onsite participants were from Latin
America and online participants connected from different developing countries. The activity was locally organized by the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología(FACET) of the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán(UNT) with the sponsorship of SCOSTEP, ICG, CONAE, BC and Fundación Sadosky.

During the mornings the participants received lectures on the following topics: Space Weather (SW)fundamentals, Ionosphere, Machine Learning (ML)
Basic Concepts, Deep Learning, ML techniques applied
to SW and main challenges. In the afternoons the partic-

Announcement
12

Yenca
Migoya-Orué

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

Figure 1. Workshop on Machine Learning for Space
Weather group photo.

ipants assisted to hands-on sessions related to Open
source tools for ML. On last day, a session was dedicated to a selection of works from students.

Further details, program and presentations are available at: https://indico.ictp.it/event/9840/overview.

Article

Meeting Report 4:

5th edition of the IMAO school in Côte d'Ivoire
Zaka Komenan1, Olivier Obrou1 and Christine Amory-Mazaudier2
1Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2LPP, Sorbonne Universités, Paris, FranceTThere were 14 different nationalities represented at
the school, involving 29 students and 14 teachers
from Algeria, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast,
France, Guinea, Morocco, Palestine, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal,
Tunisia and Vietnam.

T

his school celebrated the 30th anniversary of theInternational Year of the Equatorial Electrojet(1992) and the centenary of the discovery of the equatorial electrojet (1922).
igure 1 shows the students and some of the teachers
who participated in the school. There are three girls
from Burkina Faso, Congo Brazzaville and Senegal.

In the framework of the IMAO schools, there arepresentations on Sun-Earth system by specialists ofdifferent disciplines. Each morning is devoted to scientific readings in a given field and the afternoons to practical work. The fields covered were the physics of theSun, the Magnetosphere, the Ionosphere, the atmosphere and the Earth's magnetic field.

T

he Ivory Coast covered all local costs (food, accommodation, supplies, room etc.) and sponsors provided airfare for teachers and students. The list of sponsors
is in table 1.

Table 1: list of the sponcers
ICG United Nations of the International Commission of
GNSS
SCOSTEP: Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial
Physics
ICTP: International Centre for Theoretical Physics
INSU: National Institute of Sciences of the Universe
CNFGG: French National Committee for Geodesy andGeomagnetism
LPP/CNES: Laboratory of Plasma Physics, National Center for Space Studies
University Norbert Zongo /Burkina Faso
MESRI, Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation / Burkina Faso
University of Toulouse/ Laboratoire d’aérologie/France

Upcoming Meetings

F

Christine
Amory-Mazaudier

Meeting Report

he 5th edition of the “ISWI Maghreb Afr ique del’Ouest“ school initially planned in Burkina Faso,
took place in Abidjan in the Bingerville Centre of Excellence of the Houphouët Boigny University from 17
to 28 October 2022. It was organized by the GIRGEAA,“Groupe International de Recherche en Géophysique
Europe Afrique Asie”.The acronym IMAO is changed
to IMAOC in order to introduce Central Africa. Many
media followed the opening ceremony of the school.

Olivier
Obrou

Highlight on Young Scientists

Zaka
KomenanD
Figure 1. A group photo.

T

Announcement

uring this school contacts are established between
teachers and students. These contacts lead to supervision of students in the context of their PhD. Since
1992 there were 73 PhD including 60 in Africa. OtherPhD were defended in Spain, France, India, Indonesia,
Nepal, and Vietnam.
he report of the school is on the website
www.girgea.org.

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 3413

Article

Upcoming meetings related to SCOSTEPHighlight on Young Scientists

Conference

Date

LocationContact Information

5th Symposium of the Committee on Space
Research (COSPAR)

Apr. 16-21, 2023

Singaporehttps://www.cospar2023.org/

PRESTO Workshop & School

May 29-Jun. 2,
2023

Trieste, Italy

https://indico.ictp.it/event/10176

IUGG 2023

Jul. 11-20, 2023

Berlin, Germany

https://www.iugg2023berlin.org/

XXXVth URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium

Aug. 19-26, 2023

Sapporo, Japan

https://www.ursi-gass2023.jp/

AGU Fall Meeting 2023

Dec. 11-15, 2023

San Francisco, CA,USA

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

45th COSPAR Scientific Assembly

Jul. 13-21, 2024

Busan, South Korea

https://www.cospar2024.org/

XXXII IAU General AssemblyAug. 5-16, 2024

Cape Town, South
Africahttps://www.iau.org/science/meetings/future/symposia/

11th SCAR Open Science Conference

Aug. 19-23, 2024

Pucon, Chile

Meeting Report
Upcoming Meetings
Announcement
14

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

ArticleAnnouncement 1:

SCOSTEP Bureau meeting on 18 November 2022

Kazuo
ShiokawaT

2. Report items

1. discussion/decision items

Keith Groves●

Membership Committee report●

Reports from Participating Bodies●

Scientific Secretary (SS) Office Updates●

Updates of ISC, UN_STSC, UN_COPUOS, and
ISWI activities●

PRESTO Updates●

School activities supported by SCOSTEPApproval of the Minutes from the last Bureau Meeting held on 2 December 2021●

Current status of SCOSTEP online capacity building
lectures●

Action Items from last Bureau meeting were reviewed.

●

SCOSTEP Distinguished Science and Young Scientist Awards 2022●

Budget of 2022 and 2023 were reviewed and decided.

●

SCOSTEP Visiting Scholar (SVS)●SCOSTEP Comic Book Updates●

Bylaws to define scientific Discipline Representatives (SDRs) was decided.

●

Selection procedure to select new SDRs were discussed. The selection was initiated.

T●

STP-16 venue proposals were discussed. Full proposal is requested to the candidate countries.

●

Applications for two new SCOSTEP membershipwere discussed. They were forwarded to the Council
for their approval.

●

Selection procedure of the new Award Selection
Committee members was discussed.

Upcoming Meetings●

Meeting Reporthe SCOSTEP Bureau meeting was held at 13001643 UT on 18 November 2022 via online. The
attendees were: Kazuo Shiokawa (President), Daniel
Marsh (Vice President), Keith Groves (Scientific Secretary), Nat Gopalswamy (Past President), Lucilla Alfonsi(SCAR), Jorge Chau (URSI), Mamoru Ishii (WDS),
Yoshizumi Miyoshi (COSPAR), Pravata Mohanty(IUPAP), Renata Lukianova (IAGA), and Peter
Pilewskie (IAMAS). The following items were discussed during this meeting.

Highlight on Young Scientists

Kazuo Shiokawa (SCOSTEP President)1 and Keith Groves (SCOSTEP Scientific Secretary)2
1Center for International Collaborative Research (CICR),
Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE),
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
2Boston College, Boston, MA, USA

he next Bureau will be sometime in the first half of2023, and the next SCOSTEP Council meeting will
be held during the 28th IUGG General Assembly on 1120 July 2023 at the Messe Berlin – City Cube, Berlin,
Germany. During this Council meeting, election of President and Vice President will happen. The full report ofthe Bureau meeting will be opened from the SCOSTEP
website after approval of the Bureau minutes at the next
Bureau meeting.

Announcement

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34

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 “scostep_at_bc.edu” or “scosteprequest_at_bc.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
Keith Groves (keith.groves_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:Odele Coddington (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 coleader), Duggirala Pallamraju (Pillar 2 co-leader), Nick Pedatella (Pillar 2 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),
Keith Groves (Scientific Secretary, ex-officio), Mamoru Ishii (WDS), Jorge Chau (URSI),
Kyung-Suk Cho (IAU), Yoshizumi Miyoshi (COSPAR), Renata Lukianova (IAGA/IUGG), Peter
Pilewskie (IAMAS), Pravata Kumar Mohanty (IUPAP), and Lucilla Alfonsi (SCAR)
website: https://scostep.org.

16

SCOSTEP/PRESTO NewsletterVol. 34