What's New

The web page is on-line and contains the course syllabus, course calendar, and some useful links. (March 2008)

The full bibliographic information of the required textbook is "An Introduction to Space Weather" Cambridge University Press, (ISBN 978-0-521-71112-8), 2008. You can buy them online from a variety of booksellers including Amazon.com as well as the bookstore.

Note that "Clickers" are REQUIRED as well.

What's New2

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: Come see me. It is as simple as that. Let me know a time you are free and then just stop by and introduce yourself. You'll get one extra credit point (out of a possible of 5 points possible over the quarter). This is essentially a half-grade of potential extra credit (go from a mid-B to an A just like that). I'd like everyone to visit me at least once during the quarter.

What's New3

email sent by Mike on 4/3/2008 (Re: Moodle Quiz Error)

Several people have been having problems logging in to moodle, and we think it might be the same problem. Even if you're using the correct username and password, if you login from the wrong webpage, your browser might give you a message like "page cannot be displayed". This is because of a bug in the moodle site that we're trying to fix...anyway, to get around it, get to the moodle login webpage through the link on the ESS7 webpage:

<http://measure.igpp.ucla.edu/ESS7/resources.html>http://measure.igpp.ucla.edu/ESS7/resources.html

If you still have problems, send me an email. Sorry about any inconvenience this might have caused...

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Calendar Page UPDATED

The Calendar Page was updated to correct a mistake. Essentially, I had two first week Overviews scheduled. The 2nd one has been eliminated and the course essentially tracks the book Ch 1 through 8.

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Class Email (4/7/08)

If you have a moment after sunset (7:19pm ) take a look toward the West for a special moon. If you miss it tonight, look tomorrow after it has become dark. The and the Seven Sisters will be right next to each other.

Also below is information about a seminar that may be accessible to some of you. If you attend, send me a paragraph note of what you learned. The talk should give a flavor of some of the Space Weather research that is going on (it is a technical talk so be prepared). Cheers...Mark Moldwin

SUNSET ALERT: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. Weather permitting you'll see a slender equinox crescent Moon hanging above the rosy glow of sunset. Framed by the cobalt blue of early evening, the Moon reveals its "da Vinci glow" or Earthshine, a pale impression of the full Moon inside the vivid crescent--a beautiful sight.

Consider it an appetizer for Tuesday. On April 8th, the still-slender crescent passes almost directly in front of the Pleiades star cluster. Also known as the Seven Sisters, the dipper-shaped Pleiades are visible to the naked eye even from urban areas and they look wonderful through binoculars. Tuesday evening's delicate conjunction of Luna and the Seven Sisters should not be missed.

G4 Candidate Marco Velli (Solar Variability) will give his talk for the AOS 270 Seminar this week; attached please find his final schedule:

WHEN: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 ˆ AOS 270 SEMINAR

WHO: Marco Velli, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and Dipartimento di Astronomia e Scienza dello Spazio, Universita di Firenze

TIME: Tea: 3:30P to 4:00P (Math Sciences, 7124B), Seminar: 4:00P to 5:00P

WHERE: Boelter Hall 3400

TALK: "Solar Magnetism: „From the Dynamo to Coronal Heating, Flares, and the Solar Wind"

ABSTRACT:

The main cause of solar variability on all observationally accessible temporal and spatial scales is the interplay of the solar magnetic field with convective motions in the sun and the dynamics that ensue in the outer solar atmosphere, which give rise to the corona and its interplanetary extension, the heliosphere. Emerging through the photosphere, the dynamo-generated magnetic field heats and confines the plasma in ways that are not fully understood, generating coronal structures from active regions to loops, prominences, coronal holes, which vary over the solar cycle. The resulting modulation of the corona is reflected throughout heliospheric structures and transients all the way to the solar wind termination shock.

Coronal emission is intrinsically unsteady, displaying characteristic statistical features in space and time, such as power laws in the distribution of energy release with time, spatial area, and total energy. The solar wind emanating from coronal holes also carries a well developed turbulence, displaying 1/f noise at lower frequencies and more standard spectra at higher frequencies, though, paradoxically, the energy seems to be carried by waves moving away from the sun.

In this talk I will review the role played by the magnetic field in solar and heliospheric variability and solar atmospheric dynamics, discussing the fundamental open questions which present satellites, such as STEREO and Hinode, and the next generation of solar and heliospheric space experiments, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and then Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe, will help to solve in the coming decade.

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IGPP Seminar Series

Global Change in Local Places: Climate Change and the Future of the California Wine Industry

by Kimberly Nicholas Cahill, Sponsored by the Geoscience Initiative

Abstract

Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion and land use change are contributing to climate warming. This warming threatens the functioning of Earth’s life support systems and, in turn, the human needs that they support. In particular, agricultural systems are vulnerable to the impacts of changes in climate, with far-reaching implications for how and where we grow crops, and which crops we grow for food, fiber, and energy. I have developed a research approach integrating environmental and human components to evaluate the vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate change. Using California’s wine industry as a model system, I show that this vulnerability is a function of both the degree of climate warming (which, in turn, depends on policy choices about development and energy use) and features of the social system governing the industry. I use modeling to demonstrate that winegrape yields and quality ratings will be affected by climate change at the state level, and I demonstrate a method for using observational and laboratory approaches to examine the effect of climate on winegrapes at the vineyard scale. I also present findings from interviews with growers and wine industry leaders, highlighting some potential opportunities for and limitations to management adaptation and community mitigation efforts as a response to climate change. Ultimately, this research program provides a flexible, integrative framework that can be applied to other communities and agricultural systems to increase resilience in the face of global environmental change. Tuesday, 22 April 2008 3853 Slichter Hall
Refreshments at 3:45 PM
Lecture at 4:00 PM

What's New7

Week 10 and Finals week Extra Credit Videos

If you attend, write up a paragraph summary of each video and email me for the two extra points. You can get a total of 5 extra credit points.

The Videos are about Space Weather and are a good overview/summary of the class. One is a "docu-drama" from the Discovery Channel, the other is a PBS NOVA Documentary on Magnetic Storms.

What's New1