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Preface Putting the “I” in IHY This book is about international cooperation. It demonstrates how the power of scientific imagination and investigation can bring together people form all continents in almost all countries around the globe. In presenting this impressive result, we can understand, how much unifying force the quest for understanding our universe and using outer space for that purpose have. Astronomy is far away from being a “political” area of science. But is has enormous political effects – and all of these effects are positive. This book about the international aspects and achievements of the “International Heliophysical Year (IHY) 2007” can be regarded as a compendium of the fertile impacts of conducting research in this field. The main focus, as the title implicates, is the international cooperation, which has emerged from this grassroots initiative. North and South, industrialized and developing countries have been coordinating their efforts and have been learning from each other in a mutual partnership under a joint understanding of sharing the scientific benefits. Through this, trans-border networks have been created and scientific as well as cultural exchange took place. Another focus of the book shows, how much astronomy contributes to the basis of knowledge society as todays concept for mastering the future. Astronomy has been and will be attracting large numbers of young people to enter an education and career in science and engineering. Such attractions we desperately need in all countries around the world, and we have to be glad about initiatives like IHY, which are successful in raising awareness, interest and fascination. This book is therefore particularly well placed in the series “Studies in Space Policy”, since it highlights the policy needs for space education as well as international cooperation in a most dedicated and convincing way. Kai-Uwe Schrogl Director European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) v Table of contents Table of contents Preface: Putting the “I” in IHY..............................v 1 IHY Overview ...................................1 Looking back on IHY: a statement from the IHY Secretariat . ..........1 1.1 IHYs Foundation . ....................................2 1.2 IHY activities: science, observatory development, outreach and history ............................................5 1.3 Schedule and legacy plans . ................................7 1.4 The International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI) . 10 2 Leadership, Coordination & International Programs ......................................11 2.1 Organizational structure . ...............................11 2.2 IHY Secretariat . .......................................11 2.3 The International Advisory and Steering Committees . 12 2.4 Regional and national leadership and coordination. 14 3 Science: Universal Heliophysical Processes and Coordinated Investigation Programmes (CIPs)..............................15 3.1 Universal Processes: the foundation of heliophysics. 15 3.2 Scientific disciplines and the Universal Processes . 18 3.3 Science campaigns and CIPs . ........................19 3.4 International science coordination. ........................23 4 IHY/UNBSS Observatory Development Program . 27 4.1 Introduction . .......................................27 4.2 The U.N. Workshops on Basic Space Science . 29 4.3 Instrument programs and status . ........................33 vii Table of contents 5 Education and Public Outreach ...................65 5.1 Organizational structure . .................................67 5.2 Forums: meetings, special sessions, and planning discussions. 67 5.3 Public events and exhibitions . .............................69 5.4 Scientific research programs . .............................79 5.5 IHY schools and teacher training . ......................83 5.6 Web and Internet resources . .............................93 5.7 Multilingual and multicultural resources ......................94 6 “IGY Gold” History initiative ......................97 6.1 Goals . ............................................97 6.2 The IGY “Gold” Club. .................................97 6.3 Historical commemoration events . ......................99 7 IHY National Committee Reports . 103 7.1 Africa . ...........................................103 7.2 Eastern Asia and the Pacific..............................129 7.3 Eastern Europe and Central Asia . 155 National and Regional Reports. 161 7.4 Balkan, Black Sea and Caspian Sea Regional Network. 161 7.5 Western Europe . ....................................191 7.6 Latin America and the Caribbean. 245 7.7 North America . ....................................252 7.8 Western Asia . ....................................266 Appendix I IHY Committees and Team Leaders . 281 Appendix II United Nation Basic Space Science Workshops and Projects . 291 Appendix III IHY Publications . 298 1 “Sun and Geosphere. ....................................298 2 U.N. Publications and Resources............................298 viii Table of contents 3 Special Issues ..........................................300 4 Heliophysics textbooks . ..................................304 5 IHY/COST296 Calendar . ..............................304 Appendix IV IHY Events, Conferences and Seminars ............................305 Appendix V IHY and the International Science Years ................................316 1 Brief history of the IGY ..................................316 2 The Celimontana Declaration: IHY and the other International Science Years ..........................................321 Acknowledgments ................................325 Index . .................................................327 List of figures . ..........................................337 ix 1 IHY Overview 1 IHY Overview “Space is a part of the worlds cultural heritage. It has inspired generations of artists, poets, scientists and musicians. Throughout history, societies have admired and searched for meaning in the same night sky.” “Indeed, space exploration can help bring cultures together. Manned space missions today are rarely top-secret national projects. Much more common are international crews, with members from a variety of backgrounds. Crews live together in cramped and challenging conditions for months, sharing experi- ences, customs and, above all, the enthusiasm for space that brought them together in the first place. Their missions capture the imaginations not only of their native lands, but of people around the world.” “Space is also helping us to address some of todays most urgent problems. Space technology has produced tools that are transforming weather forecasting, environmental protection, humanitarian assistance, education, medicine, agriculture and a wide range of other activities. And, of course, a fascination with space leads many young people to pursue careers in science and technology, helping developing countries in particular to build up their human resources, improve their technological base and enhance their prospects for development.” – U.N. Secretary – General Kofi Annan, on the occasion of World Space Week, 2001 Heliophysical: A broadening of the concept “geophysical,” extending the connections from the Earth to the Sun & interplanetary space. On the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year, the IHY activities will build on the success of IGY 1957 by continuing its legacy of system-wide studies of the extended heliophysical domain. Looking back on IHY: a statement from the IHY Secretariat The International Heliophysical Year began as a vague concept in late 1999. Over the next few years a series of grassroots community workshops were held, 1 1 IHY Overview and the IHY began to take shape. In these workshops the concept of Universal Processes was born, and the definition of this new word “heliophysics,” coined to imply a parallelism with geophysics, began to take shape. Also four main thrusts of scientific research, observatory development, history, and outreach were articulated. With this basic organizational structure, the work of planning began. First starting with a few, but then involving more and more space scientists from many countries around the world. Eventually there would be planning committees in nearly 90 nations involving the efforts of thousands of scientists. In March 2007 the IHY was officially opened, and what a success it has been! A total of 65 Coordinated Investigation Programs were initiated for the IHY. Each program involved a team of scientists working together on problems of mutual interest. The distributed instrument program facilitated the deployment of a wide range of instrument arrays all over the world, and in places that were thought to be unreachable. Eclipses in Tunisia and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya opened the door for scientific collaboration, eventually leading to instrument installations in these countries. More than 150 new instruments were installed in Africa, South America, and Asia. These installations will provide a tangible and lasting legacy for the IHY. Outreach programs brought heliophysics into the public eye, with public talks, exhibitions, and a worldwide observatory “Open Doors” day. A number of teacher workshops were organized to distribute newly translated teaching materials to educators, and the IHY Schools program developed new curricula in heliophysics. The IHY Gold history program awarded more than 300 certificates to honor the participation of scientists in the IGY fifty years ago, organized workshops in India, Japan and the USA focusing on IGY history, and sponsored