On Mt. Aragats in the Republic of Armenia

Space Weather Forecasting

Speaker
Anahid Yeremian
Chair of the Support Committee for Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division (SCACRD), Physicist at Stanfor Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)

September 7, 2003 at 6:00 p.m.
at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park, CA
Admission: $5.00 includes samndwiches and drinks

Added bonus for those who want to come early
A private tour of the 2-mile Stanford Linear Accelerator Center the world's only linear particle collider
come at 4:15 pm, the tour will start promptly at 4:30 pm.

RSVP by September 2, 2003
Anahid Yeremian 650 - 926 - 4444 or anahid@slac.stanford.edu

A very special research Station located at the top of Mt. Aragats in Armenia has been doing important scientific work in the area of cosmic rays and Space Weather Forecasting. A layman's explanation of this work and its impact on humanity will be the subject of of this exciting meeting.

Established in 1943 by the world renowned Alikhanian Brothers, Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division (CRD) has one of the world’s most extensive infrastructures for solar and cosmic ray research. Using data from instrumentation at CRD’s two research stations at 10,500 ft on Mt. Aragats, approximately 100 Armenians (scientists, technicians, and support personnel) conduct research on cosmic rays, high- energy physics, and solar phenomena. Armenia is among the top 5 countries in the world in cosmic ray research.

One of CRD’s main projects is the study of Space Weather and development of an alert system to announce the most severe occurrences of it. When we think of weather, we typically think of temperature, humidity, rain, and wind. Space Weather is different from that. Space Weather is created by the arrival of particle “showers”, and the commencement of geomagnetic “storms” as a consequence of violent irruptions on the sun. The condition is at its severest every 11 years and currently we are near the peak. The loss of several billion-dollar satellites have been attributed to severe space weather in the past couple of decades. Severe space weather also has the potential of harming astronauts in the space station, and on shuttle flights, if it is undetected and mitigating action is not taken to protect against it.

Anahid will explain the various aspects of space weather and the unique advantages CRD brings to understanding it. The presentation will be in layman’s terms with diagrams to demonstrate the concepts. It will include pictures of the cosmic ray research stations on Mt. Aragats. There will be ample opportunity for questions during and at the end of the presentation. All are welcome to come.