Sixth European Space Weather Week
16-20 November, 2009 - Brugge, Belgium


Tutorial: Space Weather
Space Weather, it seems trivial: the science behind it and its applications. But it isn't. Space Weather is a complex phonomenon involving many areas. Even if you are into the subject, you can come to new insights of the basics. During a tutorial, an introduction to the solar activity and it's involvement in space weather is given. In a second part 'Applications of Space Weather', the focus lies this year on radio communication.
Young scientists/engineers, people new to the field, students, radio hammers, amateur astronomers, participants of the esww6,... all are welcome to attend.

Program
TimeWhatTutorOutline
10:00-10:05Welcome
10:05-11:00ScienceDr. Anik de Groof 1. Structure of the corona: active regions, coronal holes - the evolution of these through the solar cycle
2. Dynamic phenomena resulting from the complex magnetic structure of the corona (flares, prominence eruptions, CMEs)
3. Propagation of these CMEs on the solar wind towards the Earth's magnetosphere
11:00-11:15Coffee
11:15-12:15ApplicationsDr. Matthew Angling 1. Introduction to the ionosphere, i.e. basic ionospheric geography
2. Sub-ionospheric radio systems, i.e. HF systems
3. Trans-ionospheric radio systems, i.e. space based radar
12:15-12:30Conclusions
12:30-13:30Lunch


About ...
Anik De Groof recently joined the European Space Agency (ESA) as Liaison Scientist for PROBA2, a micro-satellite to be launched in Nov 2009 to observe space-weather related solar events. She finished her Ph.D. on solar physics in 2002 at the Centre for Plasma Astrophysics (K.U.Leuven) in Belgium. Her Ph.D. work involved the theoretical modelling of magnetic loop heating in the solar corona. As postdoctoral researcher, she studied observations of the dynamic behaviour of these coronal loops and the effects on space weather. Three years ago she started working on a PRODEX project supporting the solar EUV imager SWAP, to be flown onboard PROBA2. She was involved in the instrument calibration, the development of the PROBA2 science center and the preparation for the scientific exploitation of SWAP's EUV images. Last August, Dr. De Groof started her job as ESA scientist and moved to the PROBA2 Science Center at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in order to prepare for the launch.

Matthew Angling joined QinetiQ (then DERA) in 1993 after completing a physics degree at Oxford University. He has worked on a range of projects related to the ionosphere, such as the development of HF channel sounding techniques, the development of HF simulations and the development of a real time control system for HF broadcasting (DRM). He was awarded a PhD from the University of Leicester in 2001 for his work on the DAMSON HF pulse compression sounder. Dr. Angling is currently working on ionospheric data assimilation systems and the impact of the ionosphere on RF systems.

Practical
Monday Nov 16, 2009: 10:00 - 12:30, Ambassador room.
Following the tutorial, the participants are offered a free sandwich lunch.
Registration is FREE but necessary. Participation to the ESWW6 is NOT necessary.