European Geosciences Union
Division on Solar-Terrestrial Sciences
President: Margit Haberreiter (st@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Olga Malandraki
(omaland@astro.noa.gr)
The ST Division considers all aspects of solar and heliospheric physics, specifically the solar-terrestrial connection. It covers the physical processes occurring on the Sun, in the solar wind, as well as in Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere. Solar activity (e.g. coronal mass ejections, solar flares, solar energetic particle events) and the response of the near-Earth space environment to these solar phenomena are studied on a wide-range of temporal and spatial scales. Data analysis and interpretation of space-borne and ground-based data, as well as theoretical studies and different modeling techniques are used to better our understanding of how our local star defines the neighborhood that we live in.
The 2018 Hannes Alfvén Medal is awarded to Eckart Marsch for fundamental contributions to our understanding of the kinetic processes and plasma turbulence in the heliosphere, as well as for work that helped HELIOS become a successful mission and initiated the Solar Orbiter.
The 2018 Julius Bartels Medal is awarded to Ilya G. Usoskin for his key contributions to long-term changes of cosmic rays and solar activity, qualifying him as a founder of the space climate discipline.
The 2018 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award is awarded to Natasha L. S. Jeffrey for her outstanding achievements in improving the standard model of fast electrons produced in solar flares, thereby eliminating the long-standing low-energy cut-off uncertainty.
The 2017 Hannes Alfvén Medal is awarded to Eric R. Priest for his fundamental contribution to the understanding of the mathematical complexity and physics of magnetic reconnection and the magnetic coupling of the convection zone with the solar atmosphere.
The 2017 Julius Bartels Medal is awarded to Tuija I. Pulkkinen for her key contributions in solar-terrestrial science, scientific management, academic leadership, and services to the space community.
The 2017 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Emma Anderberg Reconstructing the 11-year solar cycle length from cosmogenic radionuclides for the last 600 years
In this month’s post, Karl Magnus Laundal explains a newly developed empirical model for the full high latitude current system of the Earth’s ionosphere, AMPS (Average Magnetic field and Polar Current System). The model is available and documented in python code, published under the acronym pyAMPS. The community is invited to download and explore the electric currents and magentic field disturbances described by the model. The average magnetic field and polar current system (AMPS) model At about 10 times airline …
In the May issue of the Life of a Scientist we have the pleasure to talk to Prof. Ilya Usoskin from the Univeristy of Oulu, Finland. Among numerous things, he is the head of the Oulu Cosmic Ray station and receipent of this year’s Julius Bartels EGU Medal; a decision that was based: “on his contributions to the understanding of the heliosphere, long-term changes in the solar activity and solar-terrestrial relations”. Prof. Usoskin, can you please introduce yourself ? I …
Last week the 2018 General Assembly were held in Vienna. Gathering 15 075 scientists from 106 countries, this is the most important EGU event throughout the year. Summarizing what happened during the week is an impossible task, as a meeting like this is way more than the 666 individual sessions convened and the 11 128 posters presented during the week. However, in this post I will point to some of the ST Division specific highlights. This year, spring came to …
Cosmic rays (CRs), are not actually rays, but highly energetic charged particles of extraterrestrial origin. The life cycle of a cosmic ray particle starts with its birth at some point in the Universe, its travel at nearly the speed of light and finally with its death ( e.g. at a detector). These highly energetic particles strike our planet from all directions and thus provide a constant background. In practice, this means that thousands of cosmic ray particles pass through our …
The deadline to nominate brilliant scientists for the EGU 2019 awards and medals is this month, on the 15th. To increase diversity in the group of EGU awardees and medallists, we encourage the EGU membership to consider gender, geographical and cultural balance when nominating outstanding Earth, planetary and space scientists at various career stages. Other important dates to keep in mind are 3 June, the deadline for submitting your feedback on the EGU 2018 General Assembly, and 18 June, the deadline for presenting authors at the meeting to submit their presentations to our online repository. Also of highlight is the call for proposals for training schools and conference series, opening on Friday (check egu.eu then). We will be launching two new EGU conference series, named in honour of two female scientists.