OR/16/030 SCOSTEP–WDS workshop on global data activities for the research of solar–terrestrial variability

Thomson, Alan W P. 2016. Geomagnetism review 2015. British Geological Survey Internal Report, OR/16/030.

Sarah Reay presenting the activities of the World Data Centre for Geomagnetism, Edinburgh, at the WDS-SCOSTEP workshop.

Participants of the WDS-SCOSTEP workshop hosted at NICT in Tokyo, Japan.

BGS was represented at the SCOSTEP–WDS Workshop on ‘Global Data Activities for the Research of Solar–Terrestrial Variability’, held at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Tokyo, Japan, from the 28 to 30 September 2015.

The main purpose of this SCOSTEP-WDS workshop was to encourage interaction between data providers in the World Data System (WDS) and scientific researchers in SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial Physics). (Both SCOTSTEP and WDS are bodies set up by the International Council for Science, ICSU). SCOTSTEP’s current scientific programme VarSITI (Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact) runs from 2014 to 2018 and a major objective of the workshop was therefore to facilitate new interactions between the two bodies, in order to benefit VarSITI and to encourage long-term preservation of its scientific results.

There were 71 participants (53 from Japan and 18 from around the world). Eleven different WDS members were represented and 51 papers were presented over the course of the workshop.

The meeting was split into three main areas:

• Collaboration between SCOTSTEP/VarSITI and the WDS
• Data analysis of a VarSITI ‘campaign event’
• Reports from WDS members and other data systems on current and recent activities

Sarah Reay, representing BGS and our World Data Centre for Geomagnetism, Edinburgh, had an active role in each part of the workshop.

On this first day Sarah was a panellist during a discussion on future collaboration between SCOSTEP/VarSITI and the WDS. This was a wide reaching discussion where we identified many common objectives on data provision and preservation. Following this discussion a Letter of Agreement was signed by SCOTSTEP and WDS representatives, formalising a working relationship between the two bodies.

The second day centred on the presentation of work related to VarSITI. Particular focus was given to the ‘St Patrick’s Day space weather event’ (15–18 March 2015) and the ‘Summer Solstice 2015 event’ (21–24 June 2015). The ‘St Patrick’s Day event’ had been identified as an official VarSITI ‘campaign interval’ and was particularly scrutinised by participants.

During this session Sarah gave a presentation titled ‘Experiences of Forecasting the Magnetic Storms of March and June 2015 and Analysis of the Resulting Ground Effects in the UK’. This detailed her experiences of forecasting geomagnetic activity levels during the St Patrick’s Day storm, as a duty forecaster, and the difficulties that space weather forecasters worldwide experienced in correctly anticipating the observed activity level. Data from the Summer Solstice event were used as a comparison in the presentation and geomagnetic and geo-electric field data from the UK for each event were discussed.

The third and final day of the workshop was devoted to data-related sessions and reports detailing the activities of WDS members whose data are of interest to the SCOSTEP/VarSITI community. Sarah gave a presentation on the current activities of the World Data System for Geomagnetism, Edinburgh. This outlined our current operations and scale of data holdings. Examples were given of how these data are currently used by the scientific community and we also highlighted how our work in digitising historical data could be used for analysing past magnetic storms.