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!

Space Physics School 2015, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

This week, me (Lassi) and Antti are down in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, teaching in a space physics school. Other teachers in the school are Mike Kosch from South African National Space Agency and Mark Moldwin from University of Michigan (USA). Staff and students from Bahir Dar University will also present their studies.

In the school, we shall cover riometry, tomography, incoherent scatter and many other near-space probing methods. The school shall take place in Jacaranda hotel, next to the beautiful Lake Tana. Hence, looking forward to a busy, but an interesting week!

... and naturally, according to the tradition, the week will end with a football match at the BDU stadium! We will post follow-ups later this week!

A random view from the terrace of the Jacaranda hotel.

Congratulations!

Our sincere congratulations to our friend and colleague, Prof Mike Lockwood of the University of Reading, UK, on the occasion of being awarded the Gold Medal in Geophysics of the Royal Astronomical Society for his contributions to space physics, including his work on long-term solar variability and its effect on the Earth's climate.

For the official announcement, please refer to the Royal Astronomical Societies' web site.

Congratulations from your SGO colleagues, Mike, well done!