1st Finnish EISCAT_3D User Meeting 26th March

Artist Impression of an EISCAT_3D site. Courtesy National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan.

The 1st Finnish EISCAT_3D User Meeting is organised in Oulu at Tellus stage on 26th March 2019. The purpose of the meeting is to inform researchers from the space physics, atmospheric and radio science community of the current status and future plans concerning the international EISCAT_3D incoherent scatter radar facility. Invited speakers from Finland and abroad, including the director of EISCAT, Dr. Craig Heinselman, will present their ideas and future plans. Plenty of time is reserved for discussion and questions. Anyone interested is welcomed to join the meeting.

The detailed programme can be found on http://www.sgo.fi/Events/E3D_FiUM/

Text: Anita Aikio; Image: NIPR, Japan.

EISCAT Symposium and Radar School 2019

Sunset at Nallikari beach, Oulu, Finland. Photo: Th.Ulich, SGO.

The next International EISCAT Symposium 2019 will take place in Oulu, Finland, 19th to 23rd August 2019, at the University of Oulu, co-organised by the university's Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory and the Ionospheric Physics Group.

The EISCAT Radar School will take place during the week before the symposium, 12th to 17th August 2019, either in Oulu or Sodankylä. The radar school will be supported by the EISCAT Scientific Association.

Detailed announcements, and a dedicated web site, with deadlines will become available shortly.

Mark your calendars, and welcome to join us for these events!

FinCOSPAR meeting in Luosto

This week, the XVth meeting of the Finnish space research community, also known as FinCOSPAR, was held in Luosto, about 40 km south from Sodankylä. It was organised jointly by Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Finnish National Committee.

Over 50 scientists attended the event, coming from the main Finnish universities involved in space research (University of Helsinki, Aalto University, University of Oulu) and from several space research institutes (Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, EISCAT). Two Japanese scientists, Prof. Y. Miyoshi from Nagoya University and Prof. T. Tanimori from Kyoto University, also took part in the meeting and presented their work, giving hope for further collaboration.

Motivated and talented Finnish scientists. Unfortunately, the weather did not allow for an outdoor picture.
Photo by T. Ulich.

Some 40 exciting talks enabled to draw a quite broad picture of the current space research in Finland. The presentations were divided into three sessions: 

 1. Earth Observation from Space and Ground – Science and Applications;

 2. Geospace Environment from Space and Ground – Physics and Space Weather;

 3. Solar System and Astrophysics.

The programme also included a panel discussion regarding the future of space research in Finland, involving speakers from the Academy of Finland, Tekes and the National Space Committee.

Thanks to the organising committee for a fruitful meeting!

Observatory Days 2015

The Observatory Days 2015 will take place 7th to 9th January 2015 at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. The purpose of the Observatory Days is to discuss, in a somewhat informal setting, science and future strategies and actions related to space research. Naturally this includes the presentation of recent results and recent, current as well as future activities. The schedule of the meeting is designed to allow for plenty of discussion time.

This meeting is the 6th in the current series, which started in 2008 under the name of Sodankylä Science Seminar, and later simply Sodankylä Seminar. Initially it was meant to discuss collaboration between SGO and the Space Physics Group at the main campus of the University of Oulu, but gradually the meeting expanded and since the 2014 meeting it is open to anyone.

For the 2015 edition we decided to change the name to Observatory Days. This name has a long history, since there used to be a regular collaboration meeting between the University of Oulu, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and SGO under the name of "Geofysiikan Observatoriopäivät," which were held before SGO became and independent department of the University of Oulu. The last meeting was the XXVIII Geofysiikan Observatoriopäivät, which took place 11th to 12th January 1993.

Already then, the time very early in the year was chosen in order to allow our colleagues with teaching duties to take part in the meeting before the end of the Christmas & New Year break. 

The 2015 meeting will begin at 13:30 LT on Wednesday, 7th January, and end with lunch at 12:00 LT on Friday, 9th January.

For more information, please click here.

Deadline for registration and abstract submission: 7th December 2014.

Inverse Days 2014, Tampere

The 20th Inverse Days Conference will take place at the Tampere-talo (Tampere Hall) in Tampere on 9-11 December, 2014. Please see the official webpage for more information: http://math.tut.fi/inversedays2014/

Deadline: titles and abstracts by November 27.

17th EISCAT International Symposium

17th EISCAT International Symposium and 42nd Atmospheric Studies by Optical Methods will run concurrently 14-18 September 2015 in Hermanus, South Africa.

The local organiser in SANSA (South African National Space Agency). More information to follow soon in the event website!

EISCAT_3D End of Project Summary Meeting

The EISCAT_3D Preparatory Phase Project is coming to an end and the End of Project Summary Meeting was held on 10.-12.9.2014 at IRF (Swedish Institute of Space Physics)  in Kiruna. Here are some photos from the event.

IRF Kiruna

Craig Heinselman, the director of EISCAT

Professor Markku Lehtinen from SGO

Derek McKay-Bukowski from SGO