International Heliophysical Year
International Heliophysical Year

Regional planning meeting for the Balkan and Black Sea region
Regional planning meeting for the Balkan and Black Sea region

Sozopol, Bulgaria, 6-8 June 2005
Organized by former Solar-Terrestrial Influences Laboratory "ACAD. D. MISHEV"
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

8 June 2005, Sozopol, Bulgaria

PROTOCOL

of the Regional IHY Planning Meeting for the Balkan and Black Sea Region

Regional IHY Planning Meeting for the Balkan and Black Sea Region (hereafter Meeting) was organized by the Solar Terrestrial Influences Laboratory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (STIL-BAS) and was supported by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and European Office of Aerospace Research and Development (EOARD). Meeting was held from 6 to 8 June 2005 at Sozopol, Bulgaria.

Representatives of 11 countries (Bulgaria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Ukraine) participated in the Meeting and scientists from Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey who were unable to attend the Meeting, expressed their wish to be included in the planned activities. There were reported about 50 papers: scientific papers, reviews, information about current researches in their countries.

The plans on the future activities and collaborations were discussed and relevant decisions were made on consensus basis which are summarized in the following as:

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

  1. Agreement on creation of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea Regional Network on Space Weather Studies (hereafter Regional Network) consisting of the following countries: Bulgaria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine. The Regional Network is open to other countries willing to participate in its activities.
  2. The Regional Network will maintain a special web site.
  3. The Regional Network will publish an International referred Scientific Journal "SUN and GEOSPHERE" with international editorial board. Proceedings the Meeting will be published in the first issue of this Journal
  4. To coordinate the activities on popularization of knowledge on Solar Terrestrial Physics, particularly, the Space Weather, by means of scientific-popular articles written by the members of the Regional Network in English with further translation into different languages for publishing in the web site of the Regional Network and in domestic periodicals.
  5. To organize Annual Summer (or Winter) Schools on Solar Terrestrial Physics in different member countries. It is reasonable to use opportunities of the big scientific events to hold these Schools as satellite events.
  6. To provide possibility of training of young scientists from member countries in different participating institutions.
  7. To create alongside with a scientific database as well as a database on each member country activities and participants.
  8. To promote bilateral and multilateral joint projects and collaborations among member countries.
  9. Concrete actions covering the items 1-8 were identified during the Meeting. They are listed in the Appendix.
Member country representatives:
Armenia, Ashot Chilingarian Azerbaijan, Elchin S. Babayev
Bulgaria, Katya GeorgievaCroatia, Dragan Rosa
Georgia, Marina Sh.GigolashviliGreece, Alexander Nindos
Poland, Zbigniew KobylinskiRomania, Georgeta Maris
Russia, Yuri YermolaevSerbia and Montenegro, Istvan Vince
Ukraine, Oleg Lytvynenko
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8 June 2005, Sozopol, Bulgaria

APPENDIX to the PROTOCOL

of the Regional IHY Planning Meeting for the Balkan and Black Sea Region

  1. Proposal for establishing of a regional network
    A coordinating committee consisting of representatives of all countries and a regional coordinator on rotational basis.
  2. Proposed scientific topics
    • The physics of solar erruptive events and which ones are potentially hazardous;
    • Atmospheric changes caused by solar UV irradiation variability at different time-scales;
    • Comparative study of geomagnetic, ionospheric and seismic effects of Coronal Mass Ejections and High Speed Solar Wind;
    • Participation in the scientific program of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
  3. Proposed instrumental networks
    • New networks by installing in the participating countries of:
      • cosmic ray detectors - related to solar activity influences on space weather (Armenia will share experience in installing the detectors);
      • radio receivers for Doppler frequency spectrum monitoring - related to solar activity influences on seismic activity (Ukraine can provide the receivers).
    • New networks based on existing instruments:
      • - ionospheric
      • - magnetometric
      • - seismic
      • - meteorological
  4. Proposed observational campaigns:
    • expeditions for measuring geomagnetic parameters during the total solar eclipse
    • ground-based observations during the operation of OBSTANOVKA experiment aboard the International Space Station
  5. Necessary new instruments and upgrade of existing scientific instruments
    • Ha telescope in Larissa, Greece
    • CIMEL photometer in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
    • CCD camera in Abastumani, Georgia
    • radiotelescopes URAN-4 and UTR-2 for measuring sporadic solar emissions and ionospheric sounding in Ukraine
  6. Proposals for a web site of the Regional Network
    • Information on regional and global activities
    • Proceedings of this Meeting
    • Space Weather Alerts for the public
    • Form for submitting research and observational proposals
    • Database of scientific data publicly available
      • Greece provides solar telescope data
      • Romania provides data on active regions studied with helioseismis holography
      • Armenia provides access to data on changing fluxes of particles during solar events
      • Bulgaria provides data on NO2 and O3
      • Webmaster provides links to other databases
    • Database on member countries activities and participating scientists
    • Database of scientific publications by participating scientists on subjects related to IHY
    • Popular papers written by members of the Regional Network
  7. Public outreach and education
    • A series of popular articles on IHY related topics written by members of the Regional Network and published monthly in the Regional web site (in English) and in domestic periodicals (in local languages)
    • Amateur observations and education in public astronomical observatories and planetaria
    • School microsatellite "Colibri" (Russian Academy of Sciences)
    • Annual Schools in member countries using when possible the opposrunities of big scientific events to hold these Schools as satellite events and observational expeditions
    • Possibilities for training of young scientists in participating institutions
    • Competition among school children for observational proposals for the International Space Station
    • Problems and questions for Astronomical Olympiads on Solar and Solar-Terrestrial Physics formulated by members of the Regional Network
  8. Future meetings in the region which can be used for coordination and planning of activities
    • "Solar extreme events - fundamental science and applied aspects" - Nor Amberd, Armenia, 26-30 September 2005 - http://crd.yerphi.am/
    • "The Second International Symposium on Space Climate" - Romania, autumn 2006 - www.astro.ro (after sept. 2005)
    • ISROSES 2006: International Symposium on Recent Observations and Simulations of the Sun-Earth Systems- 18-21 September, Varna, Bulgaria - http://www.isroses.org/
    • Caspian Sea/Black Sea regional Meeting - Azerbaijan, June or September 2007 - http://www.shao.az/

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