Medal Ceremony & Lectures

Medal Ceremony

Mon 4/11 17:45 – 18:30, room Igreja (Old Church)

Live broadcast (and recording) at the E-SWAN Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/npbDOt0tqT0?si=8ThhgyqBWsPpZjsZ

Chair(s): Andrea Opitz (E-SWAN Awards Committee)

Since 2013 there are three International Space Weather and Space Climate Medals distributed: Kristian Birkeland, Baron Marcel Nicolet, and Alexander Chizhevsky. These medals are distributed yearly during the Medal Ceremony at ESWW. Medal recipients’ work must have been documented via publications in peer-reviewed journals or book chapters, or be technological contributions that has led to a fully implemented new Space Weather or Space Climate capability. Medal recipients’ work must be internationally recognized in the field of Space Weather and/or Space Climate.

Medal Lectures

Tue 5/11 14:15 – 15:15, room Auditorium

Chair(s): Andrea Opitz, Nick Arge

14:15–14:35 Birkeland talk

Medallist: Yoshizumi Miyoshi (ISEE, Nagoya University, Japan)

Title: Radiation Belt Electron Acceleration and Scattering by Chorus Waves and Their Atmospheric Impacts

Abstract: Space weather significantly influences the dynamics of radiation belt electrons and can have profound effects on Earth’s atmosphere. We have investigated how large- scale solar wind structures, such as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs), drive geomagnetic storms that enhance radiation belt electron populations. CIR-driven storms induce sustained substorm activity during their recovery phase, driven by coronal hole streams. This leads to continuous excitation of chorus waves via cross-energy coupling among different plasma/particle populations, which play a crucial role in accelerating radiation belt electrons and facilitating their precipitation into the atmosphere. Our research has demonstrated that radiation belt electron enhancements are associated with high- speed solar wind and southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Southward IMF drives prolonged substorm activity, which generates continuous chorus wave excitation in the inner magnetosphere. These chorus waves, in turn, lead to increased populations of relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt. Additionally, we have proposed a new theoretical model describing wide-energy electron precipitation, ranging from 10s keV to MeV, driven by the pitch angle scattering of electrons by chorus waves. These relativistic electron precipitations can alter atmospheric chemistry in the mesosphere, potentially leading to ozone depletion. This highlights the broader impacts of space weather, emphasizing the importance of chorus waves in linking radiation belt dynamics to Earth’s atmospheric processes.

14:35–14:55 Chizhevsky talk

Medallist: Theodosios Chatzistergos (MPS, Germany)

Title: Unlocking the Potential of Historical Solar Archives for Irradiance Reconstructions

Abstract: Almost all of the external energy received by the Earth’s system comes from the Sun. Space-based measurements of solar irradiance started in 1978, which is a rather short period for assessing the Sun’s influence on Earth’s climate. Solar irradiance variations are driven by the evolution of the solar surface magnetic field. Thus, reconstructions of past irradiance variations can be achieved by using appropriate data that describe the darkening and brightening effects of sunspots and faculae, respectively. While various sources of sunspot data are readily available back to the 1600s, facular data are significantly scarcer. Luckily, historical archives of Ca II K observations can provide the needed facular data all the way back to 1892. Despite the vast wealth of these observations, their use has been limited due to the myriad intricacies involved in their processing. These include the lack of direct information on how to account for the non-linear response of the photographic plates as well as numerous artefacts plaguing the images. My work focused on how to overcome these issues and derive carefully calibrated data from most available Ca II K archives. These data were used to establish a relationship between Ca II K brightness and solar surface magnetic field strength and thus reproduce maps of unsigned magnetic field. Finally, irradiance variations were reconstructed from multiple Ca II K archives, demonstrating that properly processed Ca II K data can yield accurate results and enhance our understanding of long-term trends in irradiance changes.

14:55–15:15 Nicolet talk

Medallist: Karel Schrijver

Speaker: Marc DeRosa (Lockheed Martin, CA, US)

Title: Karel Schrijver (1958-2024): A Retrospective

Abstract: This retrospective on the life and career of Karel Schrijver touches upon topics that he deeply cared about, including the science of cool-star magnetic fields, the effects of the evolution of such fields on nearby planets, the connection between solar activity and the heliosphere, and the effects of space weather on Earth. During his 20-year career at LMSAL, he played key roles in several missions, including a term as PI of the AIA instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the first flagship mission of NASA’s Living With a Star program. His was involved with creating the original set of interdisciplinary textbooks used for the NASA Heliophysics Summer School, which each summer is used to introduce the science of heliophysics as a broad and comprehensive discipline encompassing the full Sun-Earth system (and beyond) to a new round of early-career scientists. His abilities to synthesize disparate threads of knowledge made him the perfect leader for a team tasked with creating the original roadmap for scientific advancement in space weather, as commissioned by COSPAR and ILWS, and which was published in 2015. This presentation aims to honor Karel’s life and career in understanding the science of space weather and the impact of space weather on society.