Forums

Forums are informal and free debates among some fifteen to twenty-five high-level participants on open questions of scientific nature or science policy matters. Forums do not necessarily lead to formal recommendations or decisions. They are generally held once a year at ISSI for two days.

Upcoming Forum on "Solar Activity and the Solar Cycle"

Date: 22 and 23 May 2012 at ISSI, Bern, Switzerland

Purpose: Exact information will follow.

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"Assessing Requirements for a Carbon Model Reference Validation Framework"

Date: 10 and 11 January 2012 at ISSI, Bern, Switzerland

Purpose: There is significant uncertainty in our projection of future climate due to the poor quantification of feedbacks between the global climate and the carbon cycle. This is large due to limited process understanding of vegetation-atmosphere interaction, i.e. the uptake of carbon through photosynthesis and the emission through respiration. In a future climate these two key processes will change, but how and at what rate is uncertain. Progress in this area can only be made by improved process understanding and importantly by constantly improving and validating our models at the appropriate level of scale. This FORUM aims to contribute to that progress by taking stock of our current understanding and monitoring capability and importantly how these can be merged into sophisticated carbon assimilation models.

List of Participants >

Agenda of the Forum >

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"Future Out-of-Ecliptic and In Situ Observations of the Sun"

Date: 30 November and 1 December 2010 at ISSI, Bern, Switzerland

Purpose: The ESA-NASA Ulysses mission was launched on 6 October 1990 by the Space Shuttle Discovery. After its successful flyby of Jupiter in February 1992, it explored the solar environment from an orbit inclined nearly 80 degrees above the ecliptic plane. The mission was terminated on 30 June 2009 after more than 18 years of very successful operation, of which more than 17 were spent close to perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. The success of this truly unique and historical mission has been outstanding. It contributed greatly to the understanding of the physics of the Sun, its activity cycle, the three-dimensional structure of the solar wind and of the inner heliosphere, the magnetic field, the penetration of cosmic rays etc. After the mission was terminated, the unique observing capabilities of Ulysses have not been replaced. While several missions are observing the Sun from the ecliptic plane, the loss of Ulysses observations deprives the scientific community from monitoring the long-term behavior of the Sun in 3-D.
New opportunities may arise in the not too distant future which may replace part of the capabilities of Ulysses, possibly complementing them with new and more modern instruments. These are the ESA Solar Orbiter and the Solar Probe Plus of NASA, as well as the SPORT mission initiated by the Center for Space Science and Applied Research in China. This set of missions and possibly others later may provide opportunities for a more comprehensive study of the Sun and the inner heliosphere in 3-D. Coordination of these missions through a properly framed international cooperation approach would add tremendous capabilities and enhance considerably the scientific output of the whole set.
The two missions, Solar Probe Plus and Solar Orbiter have already been extensively studied and their prospective instrumentation and objectives are well defined. The proposed SPORT mission would bring a considerable enhancement of the capabilities of studying the polar regions of the Sun and the heliosphere. This opportunity, together with the expected results from the other two missions, should not be missed to advance solar and heliospheric science. Refining the observing capabilities of such an international programme through reviewing the possible complementation of the instrumentation and mission design could be very effective in optimizing the set of missions.

List of Participants >

Agenda of the Forum on FUTURE OUT-OF-ECLIPTIC AND IN SITU OBSERVATIONS OF THE SUN" >

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"ISSI/ESRIN Earth Science Project"

Date: 11 and 12 May 2009 at ISSI, Bern, Switzerland

Purpose: The Earth Science Project addresses topics of interdisciplinary character in relation to the ESA’s Living Planet program and the International Polar Year (IPY). The purpose of the Forum is to analyze the results of the different activities of Phase 1 which will allow the evaluation of the progress made in the study of the respective areas and of the future needs and potential developments. The debates and additional contributions shall lead to the identification of the foci of Phase 2. Participation in this Forum is by invitation only.

List of participants >

Preliminary Agenda of the Forum on "ISSI/ESRIN Earth Science Project" >

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"The Future of Magnetospheric Research"

Date: 24 and 25 March 2009 at ISSI, Bern, Switzerland

Purpose: Initiated by a discussion at the COSPAR meeting in Montreal, the purpose of the Forum is to identify the big open questions in our understanding of the physics of Earth's magnetosphere. In particular, are the basic physical processes well enough understood after five decades of intense research activity? Has research progressed to the point where the predictive ability concerning the Earth's space environment is close to reality? We shall also aim to discuss what prospects there are of answering them, and by what means. As a byproduct, the discussions would naturally also lead to the identification of one or more, possibly linked themes for future ISSI workshops on this subject that has been of prime importance in ISSI's history. Participation in this Forum is by invitation only.

List of Participants >

Agenda of the Forum "The Future of Magnetospheric Research" >

Pictures of the Forum on the Future of Magnetospheric Research 24/25 March 2009

Overview of the past Forums >