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SCAR Bulletin No 134, July 1999

Working Group on Solar-Terrestrial and Astrophysical Research (STAR)

Introduction

STAR held two workshops in association with the SCAR meeting in Concepción, Chile:

A workshop on co-operative research in solar-terrestrial physics in Antarctica
A workshop on new directions

Eleven members attended the meeting and, in addition, a number of observers attended the workshops. The workshops were as very successful and served to advance the science and improve collaboration.

Business Meetings

Business meetings were held on Tuesday 21 July 1998 and Thursday 23 July 1998. A number of matters were considered as listed below.

AGONET: This is the Antarctic Geophysical Observatory Network. A major past activity has been the establishment of a central data base, developed and managed in Italy by M Candidi and co-workers. During the past two years the technology of the Internet and the World Wide Web has changed the nature of the community needs for access to data. Data, which could previously only be accessed in the central database, are now available on the home pages of host institutions. It is now time for substantial improvement in access to data using the most modern tools.

The newsletter of the working group could now have its function enhanced and modernized by making use of Internet capability. V Papitashvili, has developed a home page for the Working Group, using facilities provided by the University of Michigan.

Most SCAR members now have access to the World Wide Web and all are expected to do so by the XXVI SCAR meeting.

The Working Group has charged M Candidi and V Papitashvili with the task of setting up a system which provides links to all the data from AGONET, as well as other related data and to report in two years . The existing central database will be maintained until the end of the transition period when it will be replaced by the distributed system on the web and its tools will thereafter be used for specific events only when required.

Costs associated with this change (eg travel by Candidi and/or Papitashvili) will be requested from SCAR It is also intended to allow for costs for users, who do not have easy access at present to attain such access.

SCAR policy on conference fees and attendance: SCAR noted the internal recommendation on this matter but took no further action. The working group is concerned about this issue and requests SCAR to consider Recommendation 1 below..

XXVI SCAR in Tokyo 2000: The Group has identified the need to capitalize on the enhanced ability to combine a variety of data from all parts of Antarctica. It also recognizes the global importance of Antarctica in Solar-Terrestrial Physics. The next solar maximum will occur in the year 2000. It wishes to hold the following series of Workshops, occupying 5 days, during the Tokyo meeting:

Inter-hemispheric Conjugacy in Solar Terrestrial Data
First Results from the Solar Maximum
Long-term Trends in the Upper Atmosphere
Antarctic Astrophysical Workshop
Overview and Coordination of National Plans and Activities in Antarctic STP

European Space Agency Workshop on Space Weather:

M Candidi will report to the ESA workshop on the work of STAR.

Office Bearers: It was agreed that normally chairmen would not be re-elected after a second term. Notwithstanding this it was agreed that, at a time of rapid transition, for continuity, this condition would be varied.

Elections:

A D M Walker was elected as Chairman for a final two-year period; M Candidi, was re-elected as Vice Chairman and charged with working closely with Walker in order to provide continuity; J Storey was re-elected as Vice Chairman with special responsibility for Astrophysics; U Inan was re-elected as Vice Chairman; and V Papitashvili was re-elected as Secretary.

General: The SCAR meeting was appreciative of the fact that, since Recommendation XXIV-16 was adopted, the South African radar SHARE and the second Japanese radar have become operational, while the Australian radar TIGER and the French/Italian radar planned for Kerguelen Island have received funding and are well-advanced in construction.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1 - Cost of Meetings:

STAR requests that SCAR reconsider the following resolution, which was noted by SCAR in 1996:

Noting

That it is becoming increasingly difficult for Nations which are members of SCAR to act as hosts for SCAR meetings because of the increasing cost
That the presence of observers who are involved in the operation and planning of a wide variety of experiments in Antarctica adds substantially to the ability of the Working Group to plan effective Antarctic Programmes and attendance of such observers places significant additional financial burden on the local organizer,

The Solar Terrestrial and Astrophysical Research Working Group Recommends to SCAR

That future SCAR conferences should be funded by charging those attending an appropriate registration fee
That the presence of observers at Working Group meetings be encouraged where the nature of the Group activities makes this desirable Recommendation external to SCAR.

Recommendation 2 - Importance of magnetometer data:

Recognizing the value of magnetometer data to the global study of solar terrestrial interactions and

Noting the increasing satellite and ground-based international efforts related to the impending solar maximum,

The Solar Terrestrial and Astrophysical Working Group, Recommends that SCAR encourage responsible organizations and scientists to establish and maintain these basic instruments at all feasible Antarctic stations which provide independent coverage and, where possible, to maintain Observatory quality data to assist the determination of the International Geomagnetic Reference Field, which has become a crucial background reference for global solar terrestrial studies as well as ground-truth for upcoming satellite missions (such as OERSTED, which is specifically designed to map in detail the Earth's magnetic field at low altitude).

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research

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