<div dir="ltr"><div><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-73369989-7fff-d81d-5c16-34723c8d945d"><p>Dear CEDAR List Moderator,</p><p>Please find below an announcement regarding the FDL Benchlab Solar Wind Prediction 2026 AI Tournament, organized in partnership with 

<b>NASA ,</b>CU Boulder and Queen Mary University of London.</p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">We would be grateful if you could approve this message for distribution to the CEDAR mailing list or in any other relevant channels. This is an exciting opportunity and we believe members of your community would be interested in participating or following along with the live leaderboard. Please find more info here: </span><a href="http://www.benchlab.live/" style="background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">benchlab.live</span></a></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;white-space:pre-wrap">Please reach out if you need any more information or if I can support in any way, I look forward to hearing from you,</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;white-space:pre-wrap">Tom</span></p><img src="cid:ii_ms7dxzqo2" alt="7ad6d68a-b85f-4b61-8372-56b5f34f6117.jpg" width="496" height="126"><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Dear Colleagues,</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Predicting the ambient solar wind three days ahead remains one of the most significant open problems in heliophysics. This is why we are engaging the community to drive SOTA in operational conditions. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We are pleased to share the FDL </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Benchlab Solar Wind Prediction 2026 AI Tournament</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, a live operational AI competition designed to test whether machine learning systems can produce robust 72-hour ambient solar-wind forecasts under realistic forward-time constraints.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Benchlab</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> is a Frontier Development Lab initiative in partnership with CU Boulder, Queen Mary University of London and </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">NASA</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. (</span><a href="http://www.benchlab.live" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">benchlab.live</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">)</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Key information:</span></p><br><ul style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px"><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" role="presentation"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">True Operational Conditions:</span><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Unlike traditional static competitions, this tournament tests models inside a live, constraint-driven operational inference loop.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Your workflows will run continuously to generate forecasts against future, unseen ACE solar-wind data.</span></p></li></ul><br><ul style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px"><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" role="presentation"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Prizes & Impact:</span><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Compete for a share of a </span><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">$20,000 cash prize fund</span><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Winners will co-author a joint technical paper with the organizing committee, and the top-performing model will be integrated directly into the live operational suite.</span></p></li></ul><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We encourage interdisciplinary teams to combine your domain expertise in solar physics with data science to build robust prediction architectures.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Pre-register your team here</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,238);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">: </span><a href="https://fdl.ai/benchlab-solar-wind-prediction-2026" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://fdl.ai/benchlab-solar-wind-prediction-2026</span></a></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><img src="cid:ii_ms7dw9ke1" alt="image.png" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none;" width="476" height="285"></span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For full competition details, technical requirements, and to learn more about the Benchlab ecosystem, visit </span><a href="https://fdl.ai/benchlab-solar-wind-prediction-2026" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,238);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">the competition website</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Join us for the official briefing September 1, 2026.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Best regards,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="mailto:enrico.camporeale@qmul.ac.uk" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Enrico Camporeale</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> and </span><a href="mailto:nina.bonaventura@trillium.tech" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Nina Bonaventura</span></a></p></span><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>________________________________</div><div><b>Tom Penlington</b></div><b><font size="1">Project Assistant</font></b><div><b><font size="1">Trillium Technologies</font></b> <div><div><div><div>E:  <a href="mailto:tom.penlington@trillium.tech" target="_blank">tom.penlington@trillium.tech </a></div><div>W: <a href="https://trillium.tech" target="_blank">https://trillium.tech</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>