ISWI Newsletter - Vol.6 No.040
15 August 2014
Dear ISWI Participant:
The primary goal of ISWI is to do great science. However, there is a secondary function of ISWI and that is to encourage scientists and engineers (in developing nations) to pursue research/education efforts into space weather within the institutions of their home countries.
With that preface in mind, an extremely important event took place this year in Africa: The first conference of AGS, the African Geophysical Society. With immense pride and satisfaction, I attach the official conference report as Item #1 of this issue of the newsletter. In the years to come, whenever possible, please lend your help to AGS by participating in its annual conferences.
Editor of ISWI Newsletter
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
[1] REPORT on The 2014 AFRICAN GEOPHYSICAL SOCIETY CONFERENCE; 2nd–6th of JUNE, 2014 National Space Research and Development Agency, Abuja, Nigeria, (read it)
[2] Abstracts and speaker photos for each talk of AM2 portion of Session ST04-06 (Solar Activity, Space Weather and Space Climate) during recent AOGS at Sapporo, Japan (read it)
[3] "Preparing for the next big solar storm", Japan Times, 30 July 2014. (read it)
[4] Recent statistics on the visitors to the ISWI Secretariat Website. (read it)
[5] CHAIN Project to install FMT (Flare Monitoring Telescope) at second overseas site: Saudi Arabia. (read it)
[6] Registration to open soon for 2015 UN/Japan Workshop on Space Weather. (read it)
[7] Schedule for SCOSTEP/ISWI International School on Space Science; September 15–24, 2014, Lima, Peru. (read it)
[1] Background of A G S
African scientists working in the fields of relevance to Earth, Planetary
and Space Sciences have come together to establish a continental wide
Society known as African Geophysical Society AGS. The Society is a dynamic,
innovative, and interdisciplinary scientific association committed to the
pursuit of understanding of Earth and Space for the benefit of mankind.
Establishment of AGS demonstrates that scientific research and administration
can be effectively carried out by Africans within the region, in
cooperation with other sister regional bodies, in order to achieve
sustainable manpower development and effective utilization of human
resources towards scientific development of the region.
Full report is in first attached pdf.
(Sent in by A B Rabiu)
[2] These abstracts and photos are attached as Second PDF
Note that this only covers the second half of the morning session (AM2). All abstracts for this AOGS session maybe found at the ISWI Secretariat website, http://www.iswi-secretariat.org/
See the second attached pdf.
(Sent in by George Maeda and Mitko Danov)
[3] This newspaper article is quite well written, and it goes into surprisingly fine detail for a general circulation newspaper. Dst index is mentioned. (This article could be used for first-year-level university students.)
This newspaper article is in third attached pdf.
(Sent in by G.Maeda)
[4] Please view this file: Recent stats on the ISWI website (the fourth attached PDF). You can see how often the visitors come, and where they are coming from.
(Sent in by Mitko)
[5] This is news from the CHAIN Project -- part of the ISWI instrument array program. A new CHAIN observatory is on the way ....
The 1st oversea Flare Monitoring Telescope (FMT) of Continuous H-alpha Imaging Network (CHAIN) project was installed at National Ica University in Peru in March 2010 with cooperation of Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP) and Ica University.
CHAIN project originally aims to install multi-wavelength full-disk solar telescopes like the FMT around the world, but it is not easy having funds for that. Though the FMT is not so expensive compared with other professional solar telescopes, it is never cheap. The total cost is about 600 thousand USD including optical filters, CCD cameras and fee of transfer and installation etc. After the installation in Peru, we have continued to make efforts for obtaining funds mainly in Japan for installation of new FMTs to other countries. However, it did not succeed. Therefore, in 2012, King Saud University (KSU) in Saudi Arabia began to consider the possibility of installing FMT by their own funds.
KSU has two 6.6m astronomical domes on the roof floor of a building in the university. In these domes, they have an old refracting telescope and reflecting telescope (made by Carl Zeiss). However, they are not installed any filters and they cannot perform multi- wavelength observation of the Sun. Therefore, they decided to replace their reflecting telescope with the FMT by their own fund.
In December of 2012, the open tender was done in KSU, and after about one year, the agency in Saudi Arabia was decided. Currently, the new FMT is under construction in the factory of Nishimura Co.Ltd. in Japan. It will be installed at KSU around November in this year. In this process, Kyoto University has also performed scientific and technical advice to them.
This site will be one of CHAIN's stations that can cover the blank time of multi- wavelength full-disk solar observation between Japan and Peru.
With an FMT in Japan, Peru, and Saudi Arabia, the CHAIN project will have continuous (24 hours per day) monitoring of the Sun.
(Sent in by S. Ueno)
Hida Observatory, Kyoto University, Japan
More about CHAIN project from our site: (1) description, (2) distribution
CHAIN home page
[6] 2015 UN/Japan Workshop on Space Weather
"Science and Data Products from ISWI Instruments" 2–6 March 2015, Fukuoka, Japan
As mentioned in previous issues of this newsletter, there will a UN/Japan
workshop on space weather next year March in Japan. The website for
it is this:
http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SAP/act2015/japan/index.html
Starting 01 Sept 2014, this website will be where you can go to register for this workshop. There is no registration fee for this workshop. Also, selected registrants will have the bulk of the travel expenses covered by the UN; more details in future issues of ISWI Newsletter. Stay tuned to this newsletter.
(Sent in by W. Balogh and G. Maeda)
First Circular has been issued (15 June 2014) 
.
[7] Schedule for SCOSTEP/ISWI International School on Space Science;
September 15–24, 2014, Lima, Peru
This last item is Hot Off the Press.
See last attached pdf for the Peru school schedule.
(Sent in by N. Gopalswamy....just in the nick of time for this issue.)
**************[ End of this issue of the ISWI Newsletter ]******************
(1) Report on The 2014 AFRICAN GEOPHYSICAL SOCIETY CONFERENCE;
2nd–6th of JUNE, 2014, Abuja, Nigeria )
(2) Abstracts and speaker photos for each talk of AM2 portion of Session ST04-06 (Solar Activity, Space Weather and Space Climate) during recent AOGS at Sapporo, Japan )
(3) copiers copy of article Preparing for the next big solar storm in English-language Japan Newspaper )
(4) Recent statistics on the visitors to the ISWI Secretariat Website )
(5) Schedule for SCOSTEP/ISWI International School on Space Science; September 15–24, 2014, Lima, Peru )