COSPAR Training Event(s) on Space Weather Geneva, 24 February 2016 Jean-Louis FELLOUS COSPAR Executive Director 1
COSPAR Capacity building and Fellowship program COSPAR has developed with various partners a series of capacity building workshops and an associated fellowship program that are aimed at conveying practical knowledge in areas of interest to COSPAR and at building lasting bridges between scientists. COSPAR Capacity-Building Workshops are held at a rate of about 3 workshops in each two-year period. These have as a main objective the encouragement of the scientific use of space data by scientists in developing countries. 2
CB Workshops and Associated Fellowship Program Any training activity which is related to science covered by one of the eight COSPAR commissions is eligible for support. The fellowship program is open to young scientists who have been participants at one of the COSPAR Capacity Building workshops to enable them to build on skills gained at the workshop. It provides for visits of 2-4 weeks duration for the purpose of carrying out joint research to laboratories that collaborate with COSPAR in providing the fellowship program. 3
Past and Forthcoming CB Workshops Since its inception in 2001, 22 capacity building workshops have been held in various parts of the world, a large fraction of them covering astronomy and other domains of space physics. However in recent years, a significant effort has been devoted to extending the scope of these workshops in the field of Earth sciences: Regional Workshop for African Oceanographers, 2005, Rabat, Morocco Earth Observation Understanding of the Water Cycle, 2010, Fortaleza, Brazil Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Aerosols, 2011, Delhi, India Advanced Land Surface Characterization, 2011, Cape Town, South Africa Remote Sensing of Global Water Circulation and Climate Change, 2012, Beijing, China Atmospheric Correction of Earth Observation Data, 2013, Bangkok, Thailand Matching Oceanographic Problems of the Indonesian Seas (Indonesian Through Flow) to the Right Data Sets and Models, 2014, Bandung, Indonesia Satellite Remote Sensing, Water Cycle and Climate Change, 2014, Tver, Russia Remote sensing of Transboundary Waters, 2015, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 4
COSPAR Agreement with WMO SP The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the WMO Space Programme signed in March 2012 a Memorandum of Understanding through which they agreed to pursue the following cooperative activities: Exchange of information on capacity building activities; Exchange of contact points; Mutual acknowledgment and promotion; Collaboration of VLab and COSPAR host institutions, and partner satellite agencies, in organizing capacity building events; Provision of mutual sponsorship of capacity building events (in-kind); Exploration of further areas of partnership. In 2015, this partnership was renewed beyond its initial period of three years. 5
COSPAR-WMO co-sponsored CB workshops The COSPAR Panel on capacity building (PCB) and the WMO VLab used several opportunities in the past four years to collaborate on the organization of training workshops held in various countries, notably in China, Thailand, and Russia, on topics of mutual interest. 6
Future Prospects: Space Weather Earlier discussions held in 2013-2014 independently by the two organizations and jointly in the context of the WMO ET-SUP and at the COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Moscow identified Space Weather as a priority topic for collaboration in training and capacity building. Several projects have been envisioned, including expressions of interest in hosting and/or organizing a CB workshop by the Brazilian INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais) and the Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Radio waves Propagation (IKIR) of the Far-East Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation. 7
Space Weather Training Workshop Current Status The Brazilian project was submitted to COSPAR in May 2015, but it showed a number of features that required significant clarification/adjustment. At this point in time, the project has not yet responded to the comments made by the PCB and has been put on hold. The Russian proposal was first submitted to COSPAR in March 2015, and following initial comments and questions from the PCB, it was recently resubmitted in a more comprehensive manner. 8
The Kamchatka Space Weather CB Workshop is now on track A site visit has taken place on 7-8 January 2016 with Dr Alexi Glover (ESA), Chair of the COSPAR Panel on Space Weather and an active member of the PCB. The report from the site visit is reproduced as Appendix A. Based on this report the PCB has accepted the Russian proposal, assuming that additional sponsorship will help close the budget. 9
WMO support is sought for Kamchatka workshop It is in particular anticipated that WMO will be interested in disseminating the information about the Workshop, contributing to the selection of students, and providing a grant for students and support for lecturers. View taken from close to the Avacha base camp between 2 volcanoes, a couple of hours snowmobile drive from Petropavlovsk. There will be less snow in August and it will be warmer (-28 C at the coldest in early January). 10
Conclusions General information on COSPAR and its activities, including the capacity building and associated fellowship programs, can be found at http://cosparhq.cnes.fr/ The session is invited to: Take note of the information provided on COSPAR capacity building workshop on Space Weather in Russia in 2016; Recommend WMO and other interested organizations to contribute to the organization of that workshop through a grant for students and support to lecturers; Make any other appropriate recommendation concerning the objectives and content of the workshop. Thank you for your attention! 11