Meeting Information

Space Climate is a rapidly emerging interdisciplinary science that deals with long-term solar variability and its impact on the heliospheric space environment and planetary atmospheres such as that of the Earth, including global climate change. To assess the current state of our understanding and spur the growth of this field, the series of International Space Climate Symposia was initiated in 2004 (Oulu, Finland). Following up on the editions in 2006 (Sinaia, Romania) and 2009 (Saariselka, Finland), the fourth symposium of this series will be held in Goa, India from 16-21 January, 2011.

The symposium will cover the causes of long-term solar variability from the dynamo mechanism, irradiance variations, solar atmospheric processes, and the manifestations of this variability in the heliosphere and Earth. The pathways through which solar forcing influence the Earth’s upper atmosphere and climate will be assessed. Allied topics would include solar-stellar connection, geomagnetic activity, cosmic-ray modulation, cloud nucleation and a critical assessment of solar variability inputs in climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Space missions and data resources relevant for space climate research will also be discussed. A special focus of this symposium will be on the unusually long minimum of solar cycle 23, its consequences and whether it can throw light on the “minimum ground-state” of solar magnetic activity. A mix of keynote, invited and contributed talks is envisaged, in addition to a panel discussion on the solar minimum.

Invited speakers include: Jurg Beer, Amitava Bhattacharjee, Archana Bhattacharyya, Gufran Beig, Dibyendu Chakrabarty, Arnab Rai Choudhuri, Jonathan Cirtain, Ilaria Ermolli, Emese Forgács-Dajka, Bas van Geel, Katya Georgieva, Sarah Gibson, T.E. Girish, Natchimuthuk Gopalswamy, Madhulika Guhathakurta, Andew Jones, Jón Egill Kristjánsson , Franz-Josef Luebken, Arnold Hanslmeier, Siraj Hasan, Monika Korte, P.K. Manoharan, Piet Martens, Hiroko Miyahara, Kalevi Mursula, Dibyendu Nandi, Dean Pesnell, Jean-Pierre Rozelot, R. Ramesh, Alexander Ruzmaikin, Nandita Srivastava, Werner Schmutz, Annika Seppala, Sami Solanki, Stan Solomon, Prasad Subramanian, Leif Svalgaard, Brian Tinsley, Bruce Tsurutani, Jose Vaquero and Jan Veizer.

The meeting will be held in the seaside town of Goa, situated on the western coast of India and well-connected by flights to Mumbai (Bombay) and Delhi – which are major hubs for international flights. During winter, direct flights to Goa may also be available from some European cities. The venue for the symposium is Neelams the Grand Hotel (http://www.neelamsthegrand.com/) – where reduced contractual rates are available for the meeting participants. The hotel offers AC rooms, pool, health facilities, on-site restaurant and recreation as well as conference facilities. Wi-Fi access will also be available at the venue. All social events associated with the symposium will be held in this hotel. Note that a specific number of rooms are being held under this contractual rate. After the rooms at the conference hotel are filled up, references to alternate accommodation possibilities will be listed here, but the participants will have to make their own bookings. During the registration process, you have the option to decline the conference hotel accommodation and reserve your own hotel. However, please be advised that Goa is an expensive place in the winter and most hotels sell out well in advance. The choice of the above conference hotel has been based on a number of organizational factors, including our philosophy of making this conference affordable to scientists from diverse economic zones.

Note that the conference will begin on Sunday, 16^th January evening and close on Friday, 21^st January late afternoon.

Participants should use the online registration form for registering, submitting their abstract and booking accommodation at the contractual rate.

Registration Fees: US$ 350 (Developed Nations)

US$ 125 (Developing Nations; all countries listed in: http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm09/registration/low-income-countries.php)

Accommodation: US$ 70 /person/night (Single basis)

US$ 42 /person/night (Twin-shared basis)

(All breakfast, lunch and airport-transfers included)

DEADLINES

Registration, Abstract Submission and Accommodation: Closed

(If you cancel your registration before 31^st December, 2010, a processing fee of US$ 25 will be subtracted from your reimbursement; after this date cancellation may not be possible. If you are not yet ready to submit an abstract, leave a comment indicating “To be communicated by email later” in the title field of the abstract, but complete all other required fields of the registration and accommodation booking process.)

Financial Assistance Request: Closed

(Successful applicants will be informed of the level of support, following which they will need to register using the online registration form.)

Meeting website: http://www.iiserkol.ac.in/~spaceclimate4

Mirror Website: http://solar.physics.montana.edu/spaceclimate4

CONTACT

Kalevi Mursula (University of Oulu, Finland) & Dibyendu Nandi (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata)

space-climate @ gmail-com

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