3rd Space, Climate and Planetary Sciences Webinar Conference

3rd Space, Climate and Planetary Sciences Webinar Conference

Space and Planetary Department, SSGI

March 28-29, 2023

The Space and Planetary Science Department (SPSD) at Space Science and Geospatial Institute (SSGI) conducted a webinar conference during 28-29 March 2023 at Washington Hotel (Addis Ababa) considering different themes. The purpose of the conference was to bring together all researchers, engineers and lead scientists that are currently undertaking research and/or teaching as well as developing space and atmospheric applications and products in abroad and in the country’s leading and emerging universities and research centers and update each other, on the current status of space and atmospheric sciences research and their applications developments. It also aimed to assess our resources, capabilities and opportunities so that we plan concerted future collaborations on common goals. Hence, to assess the current status and impact of the research and applications development in the space, planetary and atmospheric sciences, the SPSD at SSGI has taken the initiative and conducted a webinar conference during 28-29 March 2023 with Conference theme “Space and Planetary Sciences Conference (SPSC)” on the following broad research areas:

➢ Ionospheric studies

➢ Space weather and geomagnetism

➢ Updates in opportunities/challenges in the space sciences research and technology

➢ Atmospheric sciences/ Urban weather, climate and air quality

For a better success of the conference, the department members took their own roles as conference organizers in action plan preparation, thematic areas identification and conference call preparation and announcement via various platforms, sending feedback, preparation of the webinar outlets and chairing conference sessions. In total, including the internal participants (department members) about 15 papers have been presented by researchers working at different national universities (such as Bahir Dar, Jimma and Wollega universities) and international institutes/universities (such as University of Michigan (USA), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (USA) and University of Oulu (Finland)). Moreover, about 15-30 researchers were attending the conference during the two days’ virtual conference. In general, during the two days’ conference, a total of 6 (internal) and 9 (external) papers in the aforementioned thematic areas were presented in 7 sessions and concluded with a panel discussion.

Day one: 28 March 2023

The first day of the conference was dedicated to space and plasma physics. They gave presentations on Modeling of Equatorial Ionization Anomaly, Formation of post sunset equatorial ionospheric irregularities, mid-latitude ionospheric response to geomagnetic storm, MHD waves and different constraints that affect its propagation, Ionospheric irregularity pattern on high latitude region, Ionospheric response to geomagnetic storms over the Europe-African Longitude sector using multi-instrument observations, Ionospheric and magnetic signatures of extreme space weather events over Africa, Understanding space weather and its impact on technology, and Statistics of MSTIDs at high latitudes using ionosonde measurements. The presentations were followed by a Q&A sessions where participants asked questions and shared their thoughts on the topics presented.

Day two: 29 March 2023

The second day of the conference focused on space, climate and planetary sciences and space technologies. This was also followed by presentations on various topics, including, the Effect of energy deposition hemispherical asymmetry on characteristics of LSTIDs during geomagnetic storm, Anthropogenic urban heat islands worsening the drought problems, Ionospheric response of geomagnetic storms, Challenges and opportunities in predicting of the unique African plasma turbulence, Effects of total solar eclipse on Ionospheric TEC, the study of equatorial ionization anomaly using machine learning, and A Magneto-Inductive magnetometer system for boom-less satellites, global magnetometer networks, and backyard citizen-science space weather monitors. After the presentations, there was a session of Q&A, followed by a panel discussion about the difficulties and possibilities related to the topics and fields that were Presented.

Closing Session

In general, the two-day webinar conference on space, climate, and planetary sciences provided an excellent platform for researchers, scientists, and students to share their research findings and discuss the latest developments in their fields. The conference highlighted the importance of collaboration between institutions and the need to address the challenges faced by the scientific community in their respective fields.

The conference was a great success and provided valuable insights and ideas that will contribute to advancing the fields of space science, climate science, and planetary sciences. During the closing session the participants exchanged ideas on the future directions regarding the scope and form of the forthcoming conferences, the necessity to organize future conferences in collaborations and the need to form committee from all participating institutions that take responsibilities of organization, solicitation of funds and bring all stakeholders together to make the future conferences on the Space, Climate and Planetary Sciences a great platform in the country and beyond.