WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

___________________________

COMMISSION FOR BASIC SYSTEMS OPEN PROGRAMME AREA GROUP ON INTEGRATED OBSERVING SYSTEMS

INTER-PROGRAMME EXPERT TEAM ON SATELLITE UTILIZATION AND

PRODUCTS

THIRD SESSION

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, 2-5 MAY 2017

IPET-SUP-3/Doc. 10.2 (3.III.2017) _________ ITEM: 10.2 Original: ENGLISH

COSPAR TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME

(Submitted by Jean-Louis Fellous, COSPAR Executive Director)

Summary and Purpose of Document A COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop on Space Weather was held in Kamchatka, Russia, in August 2016, organized by the Institute of Cosmo-physical Research and Radio waves Propagation (IKIR). The workshop was co-sponsored by WMO in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by COSPAR and WMO in 2012 and renewed in 2015. The COSPAR Capacity Building programme for 2017 and 2018 may include a new workshop on Space Weather, proposed by the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE) in São Jose dos Campos. Co-sponsorship by WMO is recommended.

ACTION PROPOSED

The second session is invited to: (a) Take note of the information provided on current plans to hold a COSPAR capacity building

workshop on Space Weather in Brazil in 2018; (b) Recommend WMO and other organizations to contribute to the organization of that workshop

through dissemination of the information, a grant for students and support to lecturers; and, (c) Make any other appropriate recommendation concerning the objectives and content of the

workshop.

______________________ Appendices: A. Proposal Form for a Cospar Capacity Building Workshop on Space Weather B. Report of joint COSPAR/WMO Workshop “Impact of Space Weather on Earth”,

15-26 August 2016, IKIR, Paratunka, Kamchatka, Russian Federation

IPET-SUP-3/Doc. 10.2, p. 2

DISCUSSION Introduction 1. The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the WMO Space Programme signed in January 2012 a Memorandum of Understanding for an initial period of three years, renewed in 2015, through which they agreed to pursue the following cooperative activities:

a. Exchange of information on capacity building activities; b. Exchange of contact points; c. Mutual acknowledgment and promotion; d. Collaboration of VLab and COSPAR host institutions, and partner satellite agencies, in organizing capacity building events; e. Provision of mutual sponsorship of capacity building events (in-kind); f. Exploration of further areas of partnership.

Training and capacity building workshops 2. The COSPAR Panel on capacity building (PCB) and the WMO VLab used several opportunities in the past years to collaborate on the organization of training workshops held in various countries, notably in China, Thailand and Russia, on topics of mutual interest. 3. The COSPAR CB programme includes a companion Fellowship programme open to young scientists who have been participants at one of the COSPAR Capacity Building workshops to enable them to build on skills gained at the workshop. It provides for visits of 2-4 weeks duration for the purpose of carrying out joint research to laboratories that collaborate with COSPAR in providing the fellowship pro-gram. Details on the COSPAR Capacity Building and Fellowship programmes are available on the COSPAR Web site1.

Training event on space weather 4. Earlier discussions held in 2013-2014 independently by the two organizations and jointly in the context of the WMO ET-SUP and at the COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Moscow identified Space Weather as a priority topic for collaboration in training and capacity building. Several projects were been envisioned, including expressions of interest in hosting and/or organizing a CB workshop by the Brazilian INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais) and the Institute of Cosmo-physical Research and Radio waves Propagation (IKIR) of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation.

Update 5. The Russian proposal was first submitted to COSPAR in March 2015. Following initial comments and questions from the PCB, the proposal was resubmitted in a more comprehensive manner and accepted after a site visit in 7-8 January 2016 by Dr Alexi Glover (ESA), then Chair of the COSPAR Panel on Space Weather and an active member of the PCB, assuming that additional sponsorship will help close the budget. WMO agreed to contribute to the workshop which was successfully held in August 2016. A full report of the “Joint COSPAR and WMO Capacity Building Workshop on Impact of Space Weather on Earth” was published in the December 2016 issue (n°197) of Space Research Today, freely distributed three times a year to the 10,000 COSPAR Associates. 6. The Brazilian project was first submitted to COSPAR in May 2015, but it showed a number of features that required significant clarification or adjustment. It has been resubmitted in early 2017 and is now pre-approved by the Panel on Capacity Building. The workshop is planned to be held at INPE in São Jose dos Campos (São Paulo), Brazil, on 17-28 September 2018. 7. It is anticipated that WMO will be willing to disseminate information about the Workshop, participate in the selection of students, and contribute a grant for students and support for lecturers.

_____________ Appendix: A. Proposal Form for a Cospar Capacity Building Workshop on Space Weather

1 https://cosparhq.cnes.fr/events/cb-workshops and https://cosparhq.cnes.fr/events/fellowship-program

Appendix A: Proposal Form for a COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop

Title: SPACE WEATHER CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP

Proposer Fabio Becker-Guedes (Local Chair) Research Scientist at National Institute for Space Research (INPE) Aeronomy Division (DAE) Brazilian Space Weather Program (EMBRACE)

fabio.guedes@inpe.br

+55 12 3208 7803 / 7834 / 7180

Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) Av. dos Astronautas, 1758 - Jd. Granja Sao Jose dos Campos - SP - Brazil 12227-010

Summary The “Space Weather Capacity Building Workshop” focuses on topics in Space Weather Science and Applications with emphasis in Solar Physics, Interplanetary Medium, Geomagnetic Field and Earth Magnetism, and Ionized and Neutral Earth’s Atmosphere.

The number of attendees shall be around 30 students. Ideally they should be 50% Brazilians (maximum) and at least 50% from Latin America and other continents. The target will be MSc, PhD students or Post-Docs that have interest in the Space Weather related topics.

All the traveling, housing and meals will be covered by the workshop to all attendees.

The workshop will take place in the facilities of the Brazilian Space Weather Study and Monitoring Program (EMBRACE - “Estudo e Monitoramento Brasileiro do Clima Espacial”) at National Institute for Space Research (INPE – “Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais”) in Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo, Brazil from 17 to 28 September 2018.

Proposal This Space Weather Capacity Building workshop should capacitate the students for using ground based and satellite data to understand what is happening in the Sun-Earth environment and to estimate which effects should be expected on Earth. It is also foreseeing that students will develop new collaborative contacts with scientists from the Space Weather community in this occasion.

Many regional conditions make South America singular in the studies of Space Weather effects on Earth. The South America Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA), the intensity of equatorial ionospheric perturbations like plasma bubbles, the Equatorial Ionospheric Anomaly (EIA), the highly distinct magnetic declination among other physical peculiarities make Space Weather studies and applications in South America even more unique. In this sense this workshop will be of great importance to disseminate the understanding of Space Weather studies and to emphasize the impact of its applications to society in general. The workshop format emphasize the "hands on” labs where the students will learn where to find and how to understand and analyze the data for practical use in their Space Weather scientific studies. Besides, this Workshop could get attention of more students for this promising and yet relatively new area.

Since INPE has decades of international Space Science studies and collaborations, it is expected that this institution could lead the efforts to attract more students to Space Weather topics regionally, raising the interest of young professionals in Space Weather science and/or applications and, also, strengthening the scientific international collaboration between the attendees.

Description of the planed activity (workshop format) The program for the first day (Monday, 17/09) include the registration and initial seminars about the topics to be discussed in the following days, including a presentation of the host institution (INPE) and the EMBRACE program to the students. Also, on the first day students will participate of a "Briefing" where, similar to what usually happens in large space weather centers,

researchers will present an analysis of the conditions of Space Weather using the data obtained in the last week, discussing the previsions for the Space Weather in the following days.

The following four days (18 to 21) will be divided into Solar (18, 19) and Interplanetary Medium (20, 21) topics. After the weekend break (when there will be a field trip), the first four days of the second workshop week (24 to 27) will be dedicated to Magnetosphere, Magnetic Field and GIC (24, 25) and Ionized and Neutral Atmosphere (26, 27).

On the last day (Friday, 28/09) there will take place presentations of the six groups formed during the workshop. The presentations will be about Space Weather study case events, following the perturbations from de Sun to the Earth, similarly to what was shown in the first workshop day to the students. Also, there will be a round table and the evaluation of the event.

The activities will start at 9:00 a.m. and will finish at 7:00 p.m. There will be two coffee breaks (10:30 to 11:00 a.m. and 3:30 to 4:00 p.m.) and lunch time (0:30 to 2:00 p.m.) each day.

During each one of the eight days dedicated to the four main topics of the workshop (18 to 21 and 24 to 27), the morning program will include two specialized seminars in the corresponding field given by the invited lecturer. After lunch there will be hands on activities related to the theme of the lectures. By late afternoon there will be time to students develop their group projects that will be presented in the last day (29 September). On the last day there will be a round table and the evaluation of the event.

Other relevant information

The host institution is going to dispose four available rooms during the event: two auditoriums and two computer’s rooms. The open ceremony of the capacity building will be host in the large auditorium with 250 seats available, since all the LOC and institution’s representatives can take part of the ceremony. After that, the lectures are planned to take place in a second auditorium, with 60 seats available. This auditorium has the advantage to be in the Space Weather building, next to the computer’s room, and to have a more adequate size to the number of attendants of the workshop.

During the workshop, the participants will have access to 100 Mb wireless Internet. Participants will be asked to bring their own computer, but eventually the host institution can provide them for some students. We are considering using open access software (mostly) and also licensed software. In case of the former, participants will be asked to download it before the workshop and a guide with the installation steps will be provided, for the second case the software will be provided via institutional licenses or by using the local computers. The students will use data available on the EMBRACE servers and from other Space Weather web portals.

The main lectures for Solar Physics, Interplanetary Medium, Geomagnetic Field and Earth Magnetism, and Ionized and Neutral Earth’s Atmosphere are going to be defined and invited by the International Scientific Support Group which is working together with the Local Organizing Committee on this matter.

During the event all the attendees will be accommodated in shared rooms in the same hotel and the transportation between the hotel and INPE will be provided. The accommodation of the lecturers will be in the same hotel in individual rooms. The hotel will provide breakfast and internet access to students and lecturers.

The lunch and the dinner will take place inside the INPE campus.

We are expecting to expend around 48,000 EUR with the lodging and food, the international and from other Brazilian states transportation for all participants (students and lecturers), local city transportation, and minor general expenses. We are requesting COSPAR to contribute with the most part of it (around 25,000 EUR) and we are submitting projects for partial funding to our local funding agencies: Sao Paulo State Funding Agency for Scientific Research (FAPESP), Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and Brazilian Society of Space Geophysics and Aeronomy (SBGEA) which should contribute with the total amount of 15,000 EUR up to 23,000 EUR. We are also requesting the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP) for partial support (2,000 EUR).

Joint COSPAR and WMO Capacity Building Workshop on COSPARCapacity Building Workshop (CBW)

“Impact of Space Weather on Earth”, 15 August– 26 August 2016,Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Radio Wave Propagation Far

Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Paratunka, Kamchatka,Russia

Boris Shevtsov (Director of CBW, IKIR FEB RAS, Russia), Alexi Glover (COSPAR PCB Vice Chair, ESA/RHEA, Germany)

The present COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop (CBW) aimed to expand picture of the status of spaceweather and to introduce the students to system-wide investigation of space weather (SW) phenomena, bringingtogether different types of ground based and space observations for coordinated analysis. As CBW combineslectures and training courses, it allows students to consolidate their knowledge in practice of new researchmethods and SW data processing. Key space-based observations and complementarities with the ground basedmeasurements which formed the basis of the CBW students training and their project works.

Choice of CBW venue is determined by IKIR unique location on Kamchatka where volcanic activity andseismic processes are additional special factors of the influence on the space weather parameters. This event tookplace from 15 August to 26 August 2016. This time is more comfortable to visit Kamchatka due to weatherconditions.

Each of the 12 guest lecturers presented their research area and the method of space weather study, sostudents were presented research data on the whole consecutive chain of Sun-magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere – Earth.

Program of CBW has been drawn up taking into account that the determining factor of space weather isthe Sun, so the issues related to the Sun, were discussed at the beginning of the program. The primary sources ofspace weather are solar flares and CMEs, electromagnetic and corpuscular radiations of the Sun, coronal holes,solar wind, CIRs, shock waves, etc. Impacts of these agents of solar activity on near-Earth space and technicalsystem are discussed. Magnetic storms, atmospheric and ionospheric effects, satellite’s electronic failure,radiation hazards for astronauts, effects of geomagnetically induced currents (modern electric power grids,railway electronics, oil and gas trunk pipelines, etc.) are analyzed as manifestations of space weather.

Besides, Space Research of the Sun are considered. New space missions, such as the Interhelioprobe,Solar Orbiter, Solar Probe Plus, etc., will follow the currently operating ones (Hinode, SDO, STEREO, etc.) to

observe the Sun from short distances and from out-of-ecliptic positions, as well as to conduct in-situmeasurements in the vicinity of the Sun and outside the ecliptic.

The special role of European Space Agency (ESA) is noted in space research and technology and theirapplications. ESA’s scientific spacecraft such as SOHO and Cluster help further our understanding of the Sunand space weather phenomena. In addition, ESA’s Space Situational Awareness Programme focusses ondetection and forecasting of Space Weather events and their effects on European space assets and ground basedinfrastructure.

The most interesting issues of solar-terrestrial physics are considered: structure and dynamics of the Earthmagnetosphere, influence of the solar activity on the magnetosphere, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, theorigin of ionospheric disturbances, including nighttime medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances atmiddle latitudes, features of ionosphere at high geomagnetic latitudes such aspects as aurora, auroral substorms,polar cap and cusp phenomena; impact of global change on the upper atmosphere-ionosphere system; studies,an extension of the possibility to study global electric circuit including thunderstorms and lightning, such as theobservation of Schumann Resonances (resonances of the Earth Ionosphere Cavity) above the F2 peak in theionosphere electron density; the discovery of Transient Gamma Flashes from lightning, including the discoverythat antimatter generate by lightning, and, the detailed study of global lightning generated whistler plasma wavesin the ionosphere and magnetosphere; whistler wave propagation effects are studied by the new global lightningdetection networks such as the WWLLN network. Also the issues of unusual non-universality of solar-terrestrialconnections were considered.

Since these research works are based on ground-based and satellite observations, students of CBW areacquainted on training courses with access to Internet resources on factors of space weather; real-timemonitoring of radiation conditions in the near Earth space and radiation safety of space satellites; long-term andshort term forecasting of the radiation and geomagnetic conditions in the near-Earth space informationtechnologies used for lightning and whistler analysis and monitoring; processing of geophysical data such asanalysis methods of ionospheric and geomagnetic data in the mission of space weather and its realization insoftware; processing of Intermagnet data.

The CBW received a financial support for participation of students and lecturers, and logistical supportthrough generous financial assistance from the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), World MeteorologicalOrganization (WMO), Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Radio Wave Propagation Far East Branch ofRussian Academy of Sciences, Paratunka, Kamchatka; Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations, Moscow,Russia; Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Japan; Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) SB RAS, Irkutsk, Russia, Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Aeronomy SBRAS, Yakutsk, Russia; West Department of IZMIRAN, Kaliningrad, Russia, and Kamchatka State University byVitus Bering, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia.

The CBW was directed by Prof. Boris Shevtsov from Institute of Cosmophysical Research and RadioWave Propagation Far East Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Paratunka, Kamchatka, Russia; OrganizingCommittee consisted of (in alphabet order): Dr. Nina Cherneva (Scientific secretary, IKIR FEB RAS); Dr. AlexiGlover (Space Weather Service Development Coordinator, ESA/RHEA, Darmstadt, Germany), Dr Robert H.Holzworth (Director World Wide Lightning Location Network, University of Washington,USA), Prof. VladimirKalegaev (Leader of Centre of Space Monitoring, Scientific Institute of Nuclear Physics Moscow StateUniversity), Prof. Vladimir Kuznetsov Director, Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio WavePropagation RAS, Russia), Prof. Jan Lastovicka (Department of Aeronomy, Institute of Atmospheric PhysicsCAS, Czech), Ass. Prof. Wojciech J. Miloch (Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway), Dr Clezio deNardin (Head of the Embrace Space Weather Program / INPE, Brazil), Prof. Kazuo Shiokawa (Director, theCenter for International Collaborative Research Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, NagoyaUniversity, Japan), Dr. Akimasa Yoshikawa (International Center for Space Weather Science and Education,Kyushu University, Leader of MAGDAS network, Japan).

The tasks, carried out by Local Organizing Committee included organization of the CBW in Institute ofCosmophysical Research and Radio Wave Propagation FEB RAS, partial financial support of CBW, visa supportof participants, accommodation for lecturers and students, transfer of participants from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy airport to IKIR and back, organization of excursions, etc. During the CBW, LOC was supported bythe IKIR volunteers. LOC was chaired by Boris Shevtsov.

18 lecturers from Brazil, Czech, Germany, Japan, Israel, Norway, USA and Russia during two weeks gave42 lectures and training courses. Topics of the lectures included reviews of Space Weather Science andApplications at ESA (Alexi Glover), International Space Environment Service (Clezio De Nardin) and detailedreports about parameters of Space Weather according ground-based and satellite observations and its researchmethods.

Prof. Jan Lastovicka delivered special lecture «How to get published» by request COSPAR. JanLastovicka is the member of COSPAR publications Committee, so he gave some recommendations and rules. Hedevoted attention to correct preparing of scientific articles, its structure. The authors should be very attentive tothe discussion part of an article to show advantages and specific features of results, and also be careful incorrespondence with a editor and reviewer. He noted bad English in the articles, so he advised to use simpleproposals, expressions and terms, used in present scientific area.

All lectures were listened to with attention, students asked questions on topics.

Special attention was paid to training courses on which most of time was devoted to processing of archivedata of IKIR and World Centers of the collection of Space Weather information. Data of such internationalnetwork as Intermagnet, MAGDAS, WWLLN (World Wide Lightning Location Network) were also the subjectof the study. It should be noted, that IKIR’s observation systems have been integrated into global networks formonitoring of Space Weather. Issues of simulation, forecasting, monitoring and analysis of geophysical

parameters, their realization in software, 3D simulation of atmospheric response to cosmic influences wereconsidered in other part of training courses. Theme of one of the training was specific for geophysical processesin the lower atmosphere and ionosphere are interconnected to Kamchatka seismic processes in solid Earth.Earthquakes and tsunami influence on ionospheric disturbances. So training was devoted to Earth's crustdeformation by InSAR technique. This powerful tool of satellite data helps to investigate Earth's crustdeformations inducing ionosphere variations.

Lecturers advised students on all matters within the framework of group projects and talked about how tointerpret the data for assessing space weather.

A team of lecturers consisted of (in alphabet order): Dr. Alexi Glover (Space Weather ServiceDevelopment Coordinator, ESA, Darmstadt, Germany), Dr Robert H. Holzworth (Director World WideLightning Location Network, University of Washington,USA), Prof. Vladimir Kalegaev (Leader of Centre ofSpace Monitoring, Scientific Institute of Nuclear Physics Moscow State University), Dr. Sergey Khomutov(representative of Russian segment Intermagnet, IKIR FEB RAS, Russia), Ass. Prof. Alexey Krivolutskiy(Central Aerological Observatory, Moscow, Russia), Prof. Vladimir Kuznetsov Director, Institute of Terrestrialmagnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation RAS, Russia), Prof. Jan Lastovicka (Department ofAeronomy, Institute of Atmospheric Physics CAS, Czech), Ass. Prof. Oksana Mandrikova (IKIR FEB RAS,Russia), Ass. Prof. Wojciech J. Miloch (Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Norway), Dr. TsutomuNagatsuma (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan), Dr Clezio de Nardin(Head of the Embrace Space Weather Program / INPE, Brazil), Dr. Prof. Lev Pustil'nik (GeoSciencesDepartment of Tel Aviv University and Israel Space Agency, Izrael; Prof. Boris Shevtsov (Director IKIR FEBRAS, Russia), Prof. Kazuo Shiokawa (Director, the Center for International Collaborative Research Institute forSpace-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Japan), Dr. Sergey Smirnov (IKIR FEB RAS, Russia),Dr. Gleb Vodinchar (IKIR FEB RAS, Russia), Dr. Akimasa Yoshikawa (International Center for Space WeatherScience and Education, Kyushu University, Leader of MAGDAS network, Japan), Dr. Il'ya Zhivet'ev (IKIR FEBRAS, Russia).

Altogether 30 international and Russian young scientists and students attended this workshop. 8 foreignstudents came from China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Japan. Participants were selected by theOrganizing Committees mainly on the basis of their qualifications. To apply for the workshop, young scientistscompleted the Application for Participation Form with a CV and a list of publications; letters of recommendationfrom senior scientists familiar with the applicant; and a one-page research statement about how the attendance tothis workshop would benefit their future research. Selection Committee tried to get participants from differentcountries, and different cities, universities and organizations in Russia.

Lectures and training courses were given in the conference hall of the Administration building of IKIRFEB RAS, located in Paratunka, Kamchatka. The conference hall was very comfortable for about 40 persons, thetraining rooms were in the same building.

The room was equipped for training in the Institute's library, which inspired the working mood. In thisroom, equipped with the TV, used as a great display for the PC, (the wall screen size was very good forpresentations). Internet connection was carried out using high-speed Wi-Fi, enough to work with 40 laptopssimultaneously. The compact arrangement of conference hall, training rooms, the dining room had created acomfortable environment for all participants.

The working environment has been created virtually for the first time, when it was announced that thsstudents would be divided into 5 international teams. Each team was assigned a period of 1 month for whichthey would analyse the available ground and space based space weather observations in order to interpret what

activity had taken place. At the end of the training course all teams were asked to prepare a presentation anddefend the project. So students immediately started to work on these projects, taking advantage of everyopportunity: during lunch breaks, immediately after a visit to the dining room.

The program of the CBW was very intense. Lectures started at 9-00 and ended at 18-30. LOC organizedbreakfasts, coffee-breaks, lunch and dinners in the dining room of IKIR. Even a halal food table was speciallyorganized for participants from the Muslim countries. The first working day of CBW was ended by round tablefor lecturers to discuss training and project work and then a special dinner for all participants - lecturers andstudents. During the closing ceremony all participants received personal certificates of attendance. Besides 5awards were presented for Best project, Best presentation, Best Teamworking, Most comprehensive study, Bestuse of IKIR data.

The farewell party was organized in the open air on the shore of scenic Lake with the participation of theKamchatka ethnographic national ensemble «Koritev». Performance of the ensemble was met with enthusiasm.

During the workshop students took part insport activities: table tennis, slacklining masterclass, volleyball, billiard. Lecturers alsoplayed..The intense work schedule wassupplemented by cultural activities. A week-endbetween two working weeks of CBW was usedfor two bus excursions to Geothermal Springs«Dachnye», to Halatyrsky beach (Pacific Oceancoast), and to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. Theexcursion in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiyincluded a visit to the museum of the Institute ofVolcanology and Seismology. All excursionswere guided in English by a professionalinterpreter. All students and lecturers lived in thehotel, situated in the recreational area in the valley of the river Paratunka. After each working day they had theopportunity to relax in the thermal pools.

The CBW was very successfulthanks to the efforts of all organizers,sponsors, lecturers and participantswho already sent their feedback toLOC COSPAR CBW with comments.All of them were very thankful to theorganizers for hospitality and friendlyatmosphere on the workshop. Studentsnoted that they heard usefulconcentrated volume information onspace weather from the Sun to theEarth and have greatly expanded theirrepresentations in this area, have amore clear view about impact of SpaceWeather on Earth. It is a greatexperience thanks to very interestinglectures and trainings in the area ofSpace Weather research and itsapplications.

Prof. Jan Lastovicka has commented during his lecture at the CBW «Sun seems to enter a period of lowsolar activity. Therefore, if this is correct, we can expect such a deep solar activity minima and the relatedextraordinary response of the ionosphere to geomagnetic storms in a few next solar cycles – over most ofscientific carrier of students of this COSPAR Capacity Building workshop».

The COSPAR CBW achieved its goals: to create conditions for dialogue of the participants, developlecture material, and collaborate on projects. The results of the projects and the possibility of their publicationwere discussed with special interest. This international school was held in an atmosphere of goodwill andcooperation, which impressed by both the students and lecturers. One of the important results of the workshopcan be noted as the continuity of generations.