Tue. Apr 29, 2014 11:00 AM - 12:45 PM 501 (5F)

Convener:*Kazuo Shiokawa(Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University), Taro Sakao(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Toshihiko Hirooka(Department of Earth and Planetary Scinences, Kyushu University), Chair:Mitsumu K. Ejiri(National Institute of Polar Research), Shin Suzuki(Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University)

During the last solar minimum in 2008-2009, the solar activity became extremely low. Then the next solar maximum of sunspot cycle 24 shows much lower activities compared with the previous two solar maximums in cycle 22 and 23. The scientists in the solar-terrestrial physics are watching very unusual solar activities and their consequences on Earth which have never been observed since modern scientific measurements become available. The next SCOSTEP program "Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact (VarSITI)" (2014-2018) will focus on this particular solar activity and their consequences on Earth, for various times scales from the order of thousands years to milliseconds, and for various locations and their connections from the solar interior to the Earth's atmosphere.In order to elucidate these various sun-earth connections, we encourage communication between solar scientists (solar interior, sun, and the heliosphere) and geospace scientists (magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere). Campaign observations will be promoted for particular interval in collaboration with relevant satellite and ground-based missions as well as modeling efforts. Four scientific projects will be carried out in VarSITI as (1) Solar Evolution and Extrema (SEE), (2) International Study of Earth-Affecting Solar Transients (ISEST/Minimax24), (3) Specification and Prediction of the Coupled Inner-Magnetospheric Environment (SPeCIMEN), and (4) Role Of the Sun and the Middle atmosphere/thermosphere/ionosphere In Climate (ROSMIC). This international session gives a forum to discuss on-going and planned scientific projects related to VarSITI, in order to make coordination of various projects between the sun and the earth. All presentations related to the solar-terrestrial relationship are welcome in the field of ground and satellite observations, theory, modeling, and applications for space weather forecast, as well as capacity building.