US-Africa International Workshop: International Heliophysical Year in Africa: Space Weather and Its Effects, Addis Ababa Nov. 15/2007

北卡罗来纳理工大学的Abebe Kebede将带领一个由十名美国科学家和两名学生组成的小组，与国际太阳物理年-非洲（一个更大的关于空间天气及其影响的会议）一起举办为期一天的研讨会。这些科学家来自不同的组织和机构，包括美国国家海洋和大气管理局、美国宇航局、波士顿大学、美国空军、北卡罗来纳州立大学、亚的斯亚贝巴大学和巴希尔达尔大学。讲习班将由亚的斯亚贝巴大学和巴希尔达尔大学联合主办。研讨会的目标是发展空间科学家之间的国际合作，他们的研究兴趣包括：(1)总电子含量（TEC）的纵向和季节性变化，(2)电离层等离子体参数的变化，以及(3)中低纬度的闪烁。这项合作使用各种地面仪器来收集数据。讲习班将集中讨论太阳现象以及相关的磁层、电离层和地磁效应对近地空间环境的影响。这些现象的数据被用于预测空间天气。迄今为止，从非洲收集的数据相对较少。由于需要来自世界各地的数据来开发可靠的预测模型，因此从非洲大陆获得更多的数据至关重要。通过这次研讨会建立的协作网络将调查在安静和受干扰的空间天气条件下的现象，并有助于更好地了解太阳活动低峰和高峰期间的空间天气和高层大气过程。地磁风暴可以通过在电网中产生破坏性电流而导致停电，形成对卫星造成损害的高能粒子，增加人类在太空和高空飞行器中的辐射暴露风险，改变卫星的大气阻力，造成全球定位系统（GPS）和VLF导航系统的错误，造成高频通信的损失，并造成超高频卫星链路的中断。这些风暴预报的改进将对民用和军界有很大的好处。该研讨会将加强美非在空间天气领域的合作，允许在非洲收集更多的数据，这对美国在该领域的建模非常重要，并将为美国学生提供全球参与的经验。该讲习班由国际科学与工程办公室和大气科学司共同资助。

Abebe Kebede of North Carolina A&T University will lead a team of ten US scientists and two students to conduct a one-day workshop in conjunction with International Heliophysical Year-Africa, a larger conference on space weather and its effects. The scientists are from various organizations and institutions including NOAA, NASA, Boston University, the U. S. Air Force, NC A&T State University, Addis Ababa University and Bahir Dar University. The workshop will be jointly hosted by Addis Ababa University and Bahir Dar University. The goal of the workshop is to develop international collaborations among space scientists whose research interests include (1) longitudinal and seasonal variations of total electron content (TEC), (2) variations in ionospheric plasma parameters, and (3) scintillations at mid and low-latitudes. This collaboration uses various groundbased instruments to gather data. The workshop will focus on the impact of solar phenomena and associated magnetospheric, ionospheric and geomagnetic effects on the near-earth space environment. Data on these phenomena are used in forecasting space weather. To date, relatively little data from Africa has been collected. Because data from all over the world is needed to develop robust forecasting models, obtaining more data from the continent is vital. The collaborative network developed through this workshop will investigate the phenomena during quiet and disturbed space weather conditions and contribute to a better understanding of space weather and upper atmospheric processes during low and high solar activity periods. Geomagnetic storms can cause electric power blackouts by inducing damaging currents in the electric power grids, form high energy particles that cause damage to satellites, present an increased risk of radiation exposure for humans in space and in high- altitude aircraft, change the atmospheric drag on satellites, cause errors in Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and in VLF navigation systems, cause loss of HF communications, and cause disruption of UHF satellite links. Improvements in the prediction of these storms will be of great benefit to the civilian and military communities. The workshop will strengthen US-African collaboration in this field of space weather, allow for greater data collection in Africa that is important for US modeling in this field, and it will give US students experience in global engagement.The workshop is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Atmospheric Sciences.