17th NSO/SP Summer Workshop

The 17th National Solar Observatory/Sacramento Peak International Summer Workshop will be held in Sunspot during 17-21 June 1996. NSO has a long tradition of organizing annual meetings at Sacramento Peak that bring the international community together to review and discuss the most recent results in solar and solar-terrestrial physics. This year, recognizing the importance of external forces, including solar variability, on the Earth's atmosphere and climate, NSO will host the Solar Electromagnetic Radiation Study for Solar Cycle 22 (SOLERS22) 1996 Workshop.

The goals of SOLERS22 are to answer the following questions: (1) What are the daily flux values of the solar spectral irradiance in the X-ray, EUV, UV, visible and infrared wavelength ranges and the total solar irradiance for solar cycle 22 for use in research of the terrestrial effects of solar activity? (2) What evolving solar spatial structures cause the temporal variations of these solar fluxes? (3) What are the underlying physical processes?

This summer's workshop will review recent results obtained from observations, theoretical interpretation, empirical and physical models of the variations in solar and stellar irradiances. The Working Groups of SOLERS22 will hold individual and joint meetings to discuss their research progress. Leaders of each group will present progress reports on the group's activities. There will also be special sessions that highlight the research interest of each working group. Because irradiance monitoring experiments in space observe the Sun as a star, solar images must be analyzed to identify the causes of the changes observed in solar irradiance. Therefore, a considerable amount of time will be devoted to discussions of the spatially resolved data available from the ground and also recently from space (from the Yohkoh and SOHO missions). The possible causes of irradiance changes will also be discussed, as will recent results on the effect of solar variability on the terrestrial atmospheric and climate system.

The following will be covered during the Workshop:

1. Solar Irradiance Monitoring Programs: a Summary

2. Physical Interpretation of Solar Irradiance Changes

3. Stellar Analogues of Solar Variability

4. Irradiance Surrogates: Spatially Resolved Data
   • Summary and discussion of ground-based observations
   • Summary and discussion of space observations
5. Physical Causes of Irradiance Changes
   • Spectral distribution of irradiance changes
   • Relationship between luminosity and radius changes
   • Solar oscillations and irradiance changes

6. Terrestrial Effects of Solar Variability
   • Climate models including solar forcing
   • Long-term climate changes based on paleoclimatic data
   • Effects of solar variability on the stratosphere and mesosphere

The deadline for registration and receipt of abstracts was 30 April 1996. Judit Pap chairs the Scientific Organizing Committee (jpap@jplsp2.jpl.nasa.gov, telephone 818-354-2662).

Dick Altrock, for the Local Organizing Committee