CEDAR email: George Reid tribute, CEDAR-GEM hotels and Challenges

Wed May 25 12:26:48 MDT 2011

This is a generic mailing to the CEDAR community sent 25 May 2011.
Meetings and jobs are listed at http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu under
'Community' as 'Calendar of Meetings' and 'CEDAR related opportunities'.
CEDAR email messages are under 'Community' as 'CEDAR email Newsletters'.
All are in 'Quick Links' on the main page.
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(1) George Reid of the NOAA Aeronomy Lab in Boulder, Colorado died 6 May 2011.
 From Barbara Emery (emery at ucar.edu).
See also http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/staff/george.c.reid/tribute.html

(2) CEDAR-GEM hotel blocks until May 26, May 27 and June 4.
 From Barbara Emery (emery at ucar.edu).
See http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2011_Workshop:Accommodations
for CEDAR Summer Workshop and see http://www.cpe.vt.edu/gem/travel.html for
GEM Summer Workshop.

(3) CEDAR-GEM Modeling Challenge Workshop Announcement - model outputs due June 
10.  Tentative Agenda. Call for Ideas/Viewpont Presentations.
 From maria.m.kuznetsova at nasa.gov and emery at ucar.edu.
See also 
http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2011_Workshop:Modeling_Challenge
and http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/

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(1) George Reid of the NOAA Aeronomy Lab in Boulder, Colorado died 6 May 2011.
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 From Barbara Emery (emery at ucar.edu).

George Reid was a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
scientist emeritus at Boulder Colorado.  He was head (1970-1972) of the
Aeronomy Laboratory, now the Chemical Sciences Division of the Earth
System Research Laboratory of NOAA.  He was very active in the CEDAR
(Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) sponsored
by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a chemist in the middle
atmosphere and troposphere.  He died of pancreatic cancer on May 6, 2011.
The tribute from his department is listed at
    http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/staff/george.c.reid/tribute.html
He continued to be active scientifically up until his death, and we
will miss him and his courtesy to all.

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(2) CEDAR-GEM hotel blocks until May 26, May 27 and June 4.
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 From Barbara Emery (emery at ucar.edu).

Hotel reservations for the $139 block for the CEDAR-GEM Summer Workshop in
Santa Fe Sunday June 26 (Student-only Student Workshop) to Friday July 1
are up soon.  CEDAR and GEM share bedrooms in the 3 hotels around the
Santa Fe Convention Center.  Breakfast will be at the Pavilion at the
Eldorado Hotel each day, with a few workshops at that hotel also.  Most
of the plenary and individual workshops are at the Convention Center a
5-minute walk away.  The hotel bedroom block ends at the Eldorado Hotel
on 26 May, at the Hilton Hotel on 27 May, and at the La Fonda Hotel on 4 June,
but hotel registration by 26 May is strongly encouraged, especially for
the GEM community where the end block date is 26 May for all 3 hotels.
The joint banquet is Monday night June 27.  Non-student registrations
are due Friday June 3, and CEDAR students should make their airline
reservations by June 3.  Student accommodations are taken care of
by the separate CEDAR and GEM organizers.

CEDAR participants should register at
http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2011_Workshop:Main
and get accommodations at
http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2011_Workshop:Accommodations
or at http://vsp-rosebud.dls.ucar.edu/cedar/hotel.php
and use 'CEDAR Summer Workshop' to book their rooms. GEM participants should
go to http://www.cpe.vt.edu/gem/ to register and book hotel rooms under
'GEM Summer Workshop' at http://www.cpe.vt.edu/gem/travel.html.

Some dates are already filled.

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(3) CEDAR-GEM Modeling Challenge Workshop Announcement - model outputs due June 
10.  Tentative Agenda. Call for Ideas/Viewpont Presentations.
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 From maria.m.kuznetsova at nasa.gov and emery at ucar.edu.

Conveners:  Masha Kuznetsova, Ja Soon Shim, Barbara Emery, Aaron Ridley, Delores 
Knipp, Naomi Maruyama, Tim Fuller-Rowell, Tim Guild, Jan Sojka, Geoff Crowley

Modelers, data providers and users of space weather models are invited to 
participate in the CEDAR-GEM Modeling Challenge Workshop (Tuesday, June 28 1:30 
pm - 3:30 pm, and Thursday, June 30 10 am - 3:30 pm) during the 2011 Joint 
CEDAR-GEM Workshop in Santa Fe. Details of the Challenge and instructions on how 
to prepare and submit model output time series and can be found at CCMC, GEM and 
CEDAR Web sites:

http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2011_Workshop:Modeling_Challenge
and http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/

The CEDAR-GEM Challenge is built upon GEM GGCM and CEDAR ETI Challenges. During 
the Workshop, GEM and CEDAR communities will share the experiences and lessons 
learned from the first rounds of the Challenges, address topics of common 
interest and analyze the effects of geospace model coupling on metrics results.

Participate in the Challenge by submitting your model results by June 10th, 2011.

Both CEDAR and GEM communities have recognized that due to the maturity and 
increasing complexity of state-of-the-art space weather models, there is a great 
need for a systematic and quantitative evaluation of different modeling 
approaches. During the last two years both GEM and CEDAR communities addressed 
this need by organizing and implementing comprehensive, community-wide efforts 
to test model predictions against observations. In the summer of 2008 the GEM 
GGCM Metrics and Validation Focus Group initiated a series of metrics studies 
(aka GGCM Modeling Challenge) focusing on the inner magnetospheric dynamics and 
ground magnetic field perturbations. A year later the CEDAR community initiated 
the IT modeling challenge called CEDAR Electrodynamics Thermosphere Ionosphere 
(ETI) Challenge. The goal of the two Challenges is to evaluate the current state 
of the space physics modeling capability, to facilitate interaction between 
research and operation communities in developing metrics for space weather 
models, to address the differences between various modeling approaches, to track 
model improvements over time, to facilitate collaboration among modelers, data 
providers and research communities, and provide feedback for further model 
improvement.
The Community Coordinating Modeling Center (CCMC) is supporting both Challenges 
and maintaining a web site with interactive access to model output archive and 
observational data used for metrics studies. In anticipation of the joint 
GEM-CEDAR Workshop five time intervals were included in lists of events 
addressed by both GEM and CEDAR Modeling Challenges:
*December 14, 2006 12:00 UT - December 16, 00:00 UT
*August 31, 2001 00:00 UT - September 1, 00:00 UT
*August 31, 2005 10:00 UT - September 1, 12:00 UT
*May 15, 2005 00:00 UT - May 15, 2005, 20:00 UT
*July 9, 2005 00:00 UT - July 12, 2005, 00:00 UT

Through collaboration between CEDAR and GEM Communities, by analyzing simulation 
results for ionosphere/thermosphere and magnetosphere models for the same set of 
events, we can analyze the effects of the geospace environment on the 
ionosphere. Many of the magnetospheric models are coupled to 
ionosphere-thermosphere models, so that the metrics can be conducted for both 
coupled and uncoupled simulations on both models.

Modelers are invited to submit simulation results for the 5 events listed above 
before June 10th 2011 through the interactive submission interface 
http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/.  Model output file formats for 
each physical parameter and measurement availability table with satellite 
trajectories and ground stations locations can be found at
http://hickam.ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/fileformat.php,
http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/measurements.php,
http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/challenges/GEM-CEDAR/measurements-mag

Submissions of coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere models are especially 
encouraged.  To study the effect of different drivers, ionosphere/thermosphere 
modelers are requested to perform a series of simulations for each event with 
different models for the ionosphere potential pattern: 1) Weimer 2005 using 
15-min averages of the IMF input parameters lagged -5 to -20 min provided by the 
NCAR and the CCMC; 2) AMIE provided by ASTRA (Geoff Crowley); 3) Global 
magnetosphere models provided by the CCMC.  Please contact Barbara Emery or 
Masha Kuznetsova if you need assistance to get ionospheric potentials from AMIE 
and/or global magnetosphere models.
List of physical parameters to be used for metrics studies:

Ionosphere/Thermosphere models or coupled model components:
*Vertical and horizontal drifts at Jicamarca (VperpN and VperpE)
*Neutral density at CHAMP orbit (Nden)
*Electron density at CHAMP orbit (Eden)
*NmF2 from LEO satellites (CHAMP and COSMIC) and ISRs
*HmF2 from LEO satellites (CHAMP and COSMIC) and ISRs
*Temperature Tn and neutral winds obtained by Fabry-Perot Spectrometer at 250 km 
(Arrival Heights, Antarctica; Resolute Bay, Canada)
*Ne, Te, Ti at 300 km (Millstone Hill, Sondrestrom, EISCAT, Svalbard ISRs).
*Ion vertical velocity at Sondrestrom ISR

<b>Geospace models or coupled model components:</b>
*Magnetic field at geosynchronous orbit
*Ground magnetic perturbations
*Dst index
*Auroral oval position (high latitude boundary)
*Auroral oval position (low latitude boundary)

<b>Parameters along DMSP tracks:</b>
*Poynting flux (Joule heating) into ionosphere along DMSP tracks
*Plasma Velocity (Vx - along track, Vy cross track, Vz - vertical)

Additional time series in support of simulation results analysis:
*Cross polar cap potential (northern and southern hemisphere)
*Joule heating (or Poynting flux) integrated over each hemisphere in GW.

Tentative agenda, suggested topics for discussions, and call for 
ideas/viewpoint presentations and participation in discussions:
# Review of the first round of GEM and CEDAR Challenges results. Simulations 
results, observational data and reports on metrics studies for the first round 
of Challenges are available at the CCMC website. Comments and discussions are 
welcomed. Results of the first round of Challenges will be used as a benchmark 
for further studies.
##Introduction (M. Kuznetsova)
##Overview of the CETI Challenge results (J-S. Shim)
##GEM Dst Challange results (L. Rastaetter, D. Welling)
##Discussion
# Effects of IT/geospace models coupling on metrics results.
##Comparison of different approaches to introducing geomagnetic activity effects 
into ionosphere models (A. Ridley, N. Maruyama)
##Poynting flux into the ionosphere (D. Knipp, L. Rastaetter)
##Role of ion outflows from the ionosphere to the magnetosphere.
##Discussion
# Challenges of the model-data comparison and how to address them
##How to define the equatorward boundary of the auroral oval from simulations 
(Y. Zheng)
##What metrics to apply and how to calculate skill score for global (e.g., 2D 
time dependent) observational data. TEC metrics studies planning (B. Emery, L. 
Goncharenko, A. Coster)
##Methods of data preparation.
##Uncertainty analysis of model outputs (R. Schunk).
##Metrics selection for geospace model evaluation. Lessons learned. 
Threshold-based metrics (A. Pulkkinen)
##Discussion
# Climatology projects for the thermosphere, ionosphere, ring current, radiation 
belts, and the plasma sheet (B. Emery, T. Guild)) – scheduled for Tuesday June 
28, 130-330 PM.
# General discussion on GEM-CEDAR Modeling Challenges. Planning of future 
activities

Please contact conveners if you would like to present your viewpoint (no more 
than 3 slides) on topics listed above, and/or would like to suggest additional 
topics for discussion.

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