Organisers:Oliver Allanson* (Reading); S.N. Bentley (Reading); Ravindra Desai (Imperial College); Jonathan Ross (British Antartic Survey)
NASA's Van Allen Probes (VAP) are the most comprehensive in-situ measurements ever taken in the near-Earth space radiation environment. However, the VAP are scheduled for science decommission in early 2020, and our need for high quality radiation belt models is only likely to increase in the future. This is the optimum time for the academic community and industry partners to come together, in order to capture our progress and plan future strategy.
In this meeting we aim to consolidate key advances made during the VAP era, on topics ranging from: the underlying theory of wave particle interactions; the relative role of different plasma waves on electron acceleration and transport; complex and system-scale dynamics, including the effect of solar wind driving and substorm activity on particle fluxes; how prediction of particle sources and losses have improved, and can be addressed by VAP data. Further, we aim to plan future directions for radiation belt modelling and interactions between the space weather community, industry stakeholders and the wider public. For example, what are the remaining science and engineering questions? What do we believe are the missing components of radiation belt models? How can the valuable resource of VAP data be used to address the issues above, and how can existing and planned missions (e.g. ARASE) be used to support and extend existing capability?
Invited speakers:
Lauren Blum (NASA GSFC)
Ewan Haggerty (Airbus Space and Defense)
Yuri Shprits (UCLA & GFZ Potsdam)
Admission to Specialist Discussion Meetings is free for RAS Fellows, £15 for non-fellows (£5 for students), cash or cheque only, collected at the registration desk. Admission to the subsequent Open (Monthly A&G) Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society is open to all, at no charge.