The International Heliophysical Year and Universal Processes In Space Science

Acknowledgments: Crooker, Davila, Fuller-Rowell, Gopalswamy,

Onsager, Siscoe, SOHO LASCO, Thompson, Working Group Leads

• Review of North American Science Plans• Universal Processes and IHY Science

Howard J. SingerNOAA Space Environment Center

International Association of Geomagnetism and AeronomyToulouse, France 22 July 2005

• Advancing our understanding of the Heliophysical processes that govern the Sun’s influence on Earth and the heliosphere.

• Continuing a tradition of International collaboration on the 50th Anniversary of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) 1957.

• Demonstrating the beauty, relevance, and significance of space and Earth science to the world.

THE INTERNATIONAL HELIOPHYSICAL YEAR (IHY): 2007

North American IHY Science Plans

Four Working Groups + International Coordination (with current leads):

Cosmic Rays/Outer Heliosphere: Gary Zank, Eberhard Moebius Atmospheres/Ionospheres/Magnetospheres (AIM): Tim Fuller-Rowell, Roger Smith, Howard Singer, Gordon Shepherd Climate and Earth Atmosphere: Mark Baldwin, Drew Shindell, Fangqun Yu, Victor Fomichev Solar/Inner heliosphere: Joan Burkepile, Leonard Strachan, Nancy CrookerInternational Coordination: Nat Gopalswamy and Dave Webb

• US planning workshop held at Sac Peak Observatory April 20-22, 2004

• North American IHY Planning Workshop Boulder, CO February 16-18, 2005

Cosmic Rays/Outer Heliosphere

GOALS:

• Understand Our Home System from the Sun to its Boundary with the Interstellar Medium

• Utilize Observations

• Establish connections with the broader scientific community

• Improve & Consolidate Global Heliospheric Models

Atmospheres/Ionospheres/Magnetospheres (AIM)Science Thrusts with Examples

• Comparative A-I-M Systems– A: Comparative studies of auroral dynamics on Earth, Jupiter and

Saturn– B: Comparative studies of storms and substorms at different

planets– C: Comparative studies of the radiation environment at different

planets

• End-to-end Solar-Terrestrial System Studies: Modeling and Observations– A: Storm time response of the inner magnetosphere and

ionosphere-thermosphere– B: Real-time global ionosphere– C: Sources of variability of the geomagnetically undisturbed

atmosphere and ionosphere– D: Small-scale structures

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COSMIC (GPS occultations)

USA

Canada

Europe (EUREF)

JPL

Progress in IHY project: Global Ionospheric Variability

SouthAmerica

GPS Coverage

COSMIC (GPS occultations)

USA

Canada

Europe (EUREF)

JPL

Progress in IHY project: Global Ionospheric Variability

SouthAmerica

GPS Coverage

Remarks by Dr. Hugh Odishaw, Executive Director, US National Committee for IGY, before the National

Press Club, Dec. 4, 1958)“So the fundamental purpose of the IGY was the

acquisition of synoptic data---data taken simultaneously on and about the earth in order to

get a planetary view of weather, geomagnetism, the ionosphere, the aurora, and the like. “

Climate and Earth Atmosphere • Issues of importance to climate community require climatological (long time scale) data analysis rather than focus on individual events• But, there are also a number of sun/atmosphere studies that can be carried out or initiated in the time frame of IHY2007, all with attention to coordination with ongoing (e.g., CAWSES, SPARC) programs and prior (e.g., EPIC, PSMOS) programs

Example campaigns include:• Response of atmosphere to impulsive and periodic solar events (e.g., Solar Particle Events…)• Response to the 27-day solar rotation –inferences for longer term variability• Modeling of atmospheric response to solar variability, including model intercomparison• UV effects on the biosphere (including humans).

…

Solar/Inner HeliosphereP

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Phenomena

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X X X

X : establishedX : speculative

Emphasis on comparative universal processes and connective Solar-System-spanning phenomena

Planned Activities include: • Observing campaigns, modeling, e.g.

• Study the variation of solar minimum irradiance (cycle to cycle)• Relationship of cosmic ray modulation to CMEs

The Science of Universal Processes

Earth’s aurora Aurora at Saturn’s poles

Jupiter’s aurora imaged with HST

Similar physical processes are evident in vastly different environments

Planetary Aurorae

Stellar Mass Ejections

The Science of Universal Processes

Similar physical processes are evident in vastly different environments

Sun-to-Stars X-ray Emission

The Science of Universal Processes

Similar physical processes are evident in vastly different environments

X ray bright points

Solar active regions

G,K & M dwarfs

T Tauri stars

Convective envelope

Pevtsov et al., 2003

Universal Processes: A Theme for IHY

• GOAL: Gain knowledge about the physical processes and phenomena through sharing cross-disciplinary views of the same process under different circumstances

• OUTCOMES: Workshops based on universal physical processes rather than phenomena; books on physical processes that include numerous heliospheric phenomena; legacies

Phenomena Phenomena

Geomagnetic Storm Campaign

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) Campaign

Universal Physical Processes

ReconnectionParticle AccelerationPlasma ConvectionWave processes

IHY: Advancing our Interdisciplinary Approach to Science and the Study of Universal Processes

“ I would suggest that science is already moving to enlarge its influence in three general ways: in the inter–disciplinary area, in the international area, and in the inter-cultural area. For science is the most powerful means we have for the unification of knowledge, and a main obligation of its future must be to deal with problems which cut across boundaries, whether boundaries between the sciences, boundaries between nations, or boundaries between man’s scientific and his humane concern.” -- John F. Kennedy

A Century of Scientific Conquest by John F. Kennedy, in The Scientific Endeavor, Centennial Celebration of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1963.