Dear colleagues,

We would like to bring to your attention a topical session on "Explosive Energy Release Processes in the Solar Corona and Earth's Magnetosphere," which will take place during the Triennial Earth-Sun Summit (TESS) (https://aas.org/meetings/tess2022) in Bellevue/Seattle, WA, on 8-11 August 2022.

As the title suggests, we invite contributions that facilitate an in-depth interdisciplinary discussion of the fundamental processes related to explosive energy release in both the solar corona and the magnetosphere. Studies that contrast the similarities and differences in the two environments are particularly encouraged. Possible focal topics include the roles of ideal versus resistive instability; the triggers for fast magnetic reconnection; the mechanisms of particle acceleration and plasma heating in the reconnection site, field-line shrinkage region, and elsewhere; the connections between multiscale spatiotemporal structures and dynamics.

The full session description is included below. The deadline for abstract submission is April 15 (this Friday).

21. Title: Explosive Energy Release Processes in the Solar Corona and Earth's Magnetosphere

Conveners: Bin Chen (NJIT), Vadim Uritsky (CUA), James Drake (UMD); Spiro Antiochos (NASA/GSFC); Joel Dahlin (NASA/GSFC); Rick DeVore (NASA/GSFC); Fan Guo (LANL); Maria Kazachenko (CU Boulder); Marit Oieroset (UC Berkeley); Jiong Qiu (MSU)

Description:  This session focuses on explosive energy release processes occurring in the solar corona (solar flares, coronal mass ejections, jets, etc.) and in the Earth?s magnetosphere (magnetic storms, substorms, etc.). They share the widely important process of explosive release of the previously stored magnetic energy, as well as the subsequent conversion of the magnetic energy to other forms of energy such as mass motion, accelerated particles, and heated plasma. Despite the vastly different plasma density and magnetic field strength values, the system length scales and Alfv?n speeds in the two systems are strikingly similar. In both cases, the impulsive energy release is usually followed by a fast field-line shrinkage (or dipolarization) of the reconnected field lines, forming closed magnetic field lines anchored to the surface of the Sun/Earth.

Observations and models have shown that the processes of energy build-up, triggering, release, and conversion involved in both systems are highly complex and dynamic. They include a plethora of physical processes including, but not limited to, ideal/resistive instabilities, magnetic reconnection, bursty plasma flows, turbulence/waves, shocks, and magnetic islands.

We invite contributions that facilitate an in-depth interdisciplinary discussion of these fundamental processes. Studies that contrast the similarities and differences in the two environments are particularly encouraged. Possible focal topics include the roles of ideal versus resistive instability; the triggers for fast magnetic reconnection; the mechanisms of particle acceleration and plasma heating in the reconnection site, field-line shrinkage region, and elsewhere; the connections between multiscale spatiotemporal structures and dynamics.

Best regards, Bin Chen, Vadim Uritsky, on behalf of the session conveners