Indo-US Bilateral Cooperation Program in Heliophysics and Space Weather

Dibyendu Nandy ~~ Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, What is Heliophysics?

• Solar variability forces space environment and planetary atmospheres • Characterize space weather and climate • System-wide studies defines the science of Heliophysics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliophysics http://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/ Why heliophysics? Sun Creates Space Weather

Hinode

• Sunspots are strongly magnetized regions • Solar storms originate within sunspots and travel to Earth in few days • Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – biggest explosions in the solar system – eject magnetized plasma and charged particles (m ~ 10 12 Kg, v ~ 500-2000 km/s, E ~ 10 24 Joules, 10 12 atom bombs) Space Weather Effects: Satellite Operations, Telecommunications

• Satellite operations (charging: interferes with electronic circuitry) • Space walks (exposes astronauts to high radiation) • Disrupts telecommunication systems (GPS, Satellite TV broadcasts) Space Weather: Radio Communications & Flights

HF Communication only

• Solar plasma and magnetic fields get through the Earth’s polar (open magnetic field) regions; auroras are caused by geomagnetic stomrs • Affects air-traffic over polar routes Space Weather Effects: Geomagnetic Storms, Electric Facilities

• Effect of solar storms felt at ground level at high latitudes • Induces large voltages in northern oil pipelines, fire hazards • Trips electric power grids Space Weather Affects Critical Technologies that you Depend on!

Hinode

• US Nodal Agency: NOAA-Space Weather Prediction Center • Forecasting industry worth multiple billion US$ /year • US National Academy of Sciences Report, 2009 The Cycle of Sunspots and its Relevance for Climate

Usoskin et al. 2003, PRL

• NumberSegregating of sunspots observed natural on the and Sun variesanthropogenic cyclically • Modulates the solar radiative energy output • Primary natural causesenergy input of toclimate the climate change system • Maunder Minimum and the Little Ice Age Understanding, forecasting, mitigating space weather important

Magnetic Fields Solar Storms Solar Wind Conditions Solar Radiation Spectrum Impact on Space Environment Impact on Planetary Atmospheres & Climate Heliophysics Phenomena Large Range of Physical Scales

• Convection and Granulation ( ∼1000 Km at surface) • Sunspot magnetic fields ( ∼10,000 Km) • Coronal structures: Prominences, CMEs ( ∼100,000 Km) • Sun-Earth Distance: 1 AU = 1.5 × 10 8 Km • Development and propagation of solar storms: Hours to days • Solar cycle timescale: 11 years • Modulation of Planetary Atmospheres, Climate: Centuries to Millennia Heliophysics is challenging Range of length-scales and multiple Timescales Coupling of multiple, distinct physical processes Interdisciplinary approaches necessary Theoretical Investigations in Heliophysics (Just two examples…)

Nandy et al. Mackay et al.

• Understanding solar magnetic field generation • Development and propagation of solar storms • Heliospheric modulation • Ionospheric, atmospheric and climate response Observations in Heliophysics

Aditya

• NASA has multiple satellites observing the heliophysical system • ’s first solar space mission Aditya to study solar storms —Launch around 2014 US has a mature heliophysics program Driven by NASA-NSF, Multiple Satellites and University Programs India is poised for rapid advances… Aditya Coronagraph Mission Multi-Application Solar Telescope National Large Solar Telescope (proposed) Solar Physics & Space Weather Research in Indian Institutions

• Aryabhatta Research Institute of Experimental Sciences, Nainital • Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore • Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai • Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore • Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata • Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune • Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore • Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi • Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune • Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai • Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam • Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur • National Center for Radio Astronomy, Pune • Regional Warning Center, National Physical Laboratory, New Dellhi • Osmania University, Hyderabad • Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad • Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai • Udaipur Solar Observatory, Udaipur • University College, Trivandrum Why cooperate? Enable a science discipline that affects our technology and lives Leverage expertise and resources Build a lasting relationship in the space sciences Mutually beneficial for both nations scope National Large Solar Telescope (proposed) The Envisaged Indo-US Bilateral Program in Heliophysics

• Grass-roots level, science driven collaboration between scientists • Cover all aspects of Heliophysics • Involve Universities and Institutions, both private and public • Student involvement and exchange • Sharing of resources, data and facilities • Planning of future joint endeavors, including missions • Funded by the Governments and hopefully the private sector Who are involved in the Planning?

• IISER, Kolkata (India Coordinator) • Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (US Co-coordinator) • Montana State University (US Co-coordinator)

• IISER, Pune, India • Indian Institute of Astrophysics • IUCAA, India • Indian Institute of Geomagnetism • Udaipur Solar Observatory, India • IUCAA, India • ISRO, India • National Center for Radio Astronomy, India • National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, India Who are involved in the Planning?

• Stanford University, USA • Cornell University, USA • University of Maryland, USA • University of California, San Diego • Southwest Research Institute, USA • NASA, USA • University of Texas-Dallas, USA • Utah State University • Boston University, Boston College, USA • University of Alabama • University of Michigan • George-Mason University, USA • Helio Research, USA • University of Hawaii, USA • National Solar Observatory, USA • MIT Haystack Observatory (To be confirmed) Will such a large-scale collaboration work? Somewhat similar models exists in both countries scope National Large Solar Telescope (proposed) A Model of Multi-Institutional Cooperation Driven by NASA Developing automated solar feature recognition techniques to deal with petabyte data volumes…

• Led by Piet Martens (Montana State University, USA) Institutions Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Montana State University Johns Hopkins -APL Boston University Southwest Research Institute Royal Observatory of Belgium New Mexico State University Academy of Athens Max Planck Institute, Lindau University of Hawaii Trinity College, Dublin Bradford University and Mullard Space Sciences Laboratory An Example of a Multi-Institutional Indian Collaboration

Dibyendu Nandi (PI, IISER-K) Dipankar Banerjee (Co-I, IIA) Rajesh Nayak (Co-I, IISER-K) Paul Rajaguru (Co-I, IIA) Nandita Srivastava (Co-I, USO-PRL) K Sankarasubramanian (Co-I, ISRO) Prasad Subramanian (Co-I, IISER-P)

High -Performance Computing, NKN Grid Data Analysis and Modeling Student Training Workshops, EPO

Mandate: Heliophysics and Fundamental Astrophysics Generate understanding necessary for space weather forecasting Space mission support Indigo and LIGO-India support Many common personnel and institutions Proven collaborative expertise and experiences suggestive of a potentially successful collaboration scope National Large Solar Telescope (proposed) Summary

• Heliophysics is a rapidly emerging, interdisciplinary science • Heliophysics important for a modern, technology based society • Impacts public and private sectors (Space, communications, airlines…) • US and India have interests and relevant expertise in this science • Cooperation provides leveraging, is mutually beneficial Contact

Dibyendu Nandi: [email protected] Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata Mohanpur 741252 India http://www.iiserkol.ac.in/~dnandi/