The NARMAX (Nonlinear Autoregressive Moving Average with eXogenous inputs) modeling based approach is used to identify the relations for Solar wind Magnetosphere Coupling Functions in order to identify the one with the best Dst index forecasting abilities. It is argued that the Error Reduction Ratio which is a cornerstone concept in the NARMAX system identification methodology is more appropriate for such nonlinear system as the terrestrial magnetosphere than correlation function analysis which has often been used in the past. It is shown that the identified relationships allow to correct results of theoretical derivations of coupling functions from the first principles.

During 5 years of operation DEMETER French microsatellite registered clear disturbances of the electromagnetic field and plasma parameters in the time of the many crossings of the area around epicenters of the strong (M>6.5) earthquakes. The payload of DEMETER allows to study the waves and also some important plasma parameters (ion composition, electron density and temperature, energetic particles) with high temporal resolution. In the present work analysis of the low frequency fluctuations of the magnetic and electric fields for the selected strong earthquakes (Sichuan, L'Aquila, Haiti and others) will be given. Special attention will be given to study of the characteristics of the spectra of these variations and search of the nonlinear effects. This analysis is possible in the time interval when the waveform has been transmitted. The mechanism of the energy transmission from the earthquake to the ionosphere is not clear, but we can discuss the behavior of the ionospheric plasma and search of the instabilities which could be a source of the electromagnetic field variations. Some attempt of this discussion will be given in the presentation. The search of the characteristics of the spectra and multispectra will be given in this presentation.

New digisonde drifts measurements with DPS 4 equipment started at Pruhonice observatory in January 2004. In standard autodrifts measurements, the velocity of F region drifts is usually determined near the peak of electron concentration profile.From 2005 we started measurements of ionospheric drifts in E region of the ionosphere,by using four fixed frequencies in the height interval 90 - 150 km also.This new experimental arrangement makes possible to study vertical changes and profiles of the ionospheric drifts.In our paper we deals with winter time significant changes of the drift velocity height profiles in the E region of the ionosphere (90 - 150 km) during geomagnetic quiet conditions. More dramatic vertical changes of all drift velocities components in the height interval 90 - 130 km ( with effects of acoustic gravity waves) was observed during geomagnetic storms 14 - 16.12.2006.
In second part of this paper we report an observed night time changes of the vertical drift velocity profiles in the F region of the ionosphere during quiet and disturbed conditions at midlatitude station Pruhonice.

The aim of the current study is to investigate whether it is possible to distinguish between meteorological and geomagnetic activity influences on the human organism. For this purpose the "Tonokard" experiment has been designed. It is a specifically designed device to perform daily measurements of vascular tone parameters, such as blood pressure (BP), pulse wave velocity (PWV) and endothelial function (EF). The experimental set-up of "Tonokard", including the instrumentation designed, will be described in this paper. As a trial study one volunteer has been monitored for three years. To analyze the sensitivity of the indices (BP, PWV, EF) to geomagnetic and meteorological factors two independent approaches were used, one based on traditional methods of mathematical statistics and the other on the theory of pattern recognition. Based on the two approaches it was found that PWV and EF are only sensitive to geomagnetic activity, while BP is sensitive to meteorological conditions. Possible physical links to explain these findings are currently being discussed. Furthermore, the prospects for a study with a larger number of unbiased volunteers is being looked at. We will present how we intend to proceed with this study.

Key words: vascular tone parameters, blood pressure, pulse wave velocity, geomagnetic disturbances, meteorological factors

Particle fluxes as measured at the Earth surface are the global geophysical parameters and one of basics of Space Weather research and forecasting. Time series of intensities of high energy particles can provide cost-effective information on the key characteristics of the interplanetary disturbances. Surface monitors located at Aragats Space Environmental Center (ASEC) on Mt. Aragats in Armenia at 1000, 2000 and 3200 m altitudes detect charged and neutral components of secondary cosmic rays with different energy thresholds and various angles of incidence. In 2010 we add new particle detectors, magnetometers and radio emission detectors. Total number of time series measured exceeds hundreds, covering primary proton energies from 4 till >20 GeV. The one-minute time series of gamma rays, neutrons, electrons and muons are measured with accuracy (relative MSD) 0.12% - 2%. ASEC data is available from two dedicated servers in United States (http://aragats.am) and Germany (http://fzk.aragats.am). The Advanced Data Extraction Infrastructure (ADEI http://dside.dyndns.org/adei/wiki) is used for fast data display and download.

The UAH-Space Weather Service at http://www.spaceweather.es/ has been developed based on the scientific models published recently in international journals by researchers of the UAH. The service offers a warning of severe geomagnetic disturbances from solar wind data through the UAH-SW Monitor. It also provides an estimation of the time remaining for the magnetosphere to recover quiet time conditions. The service is available free of charge 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, both, on-line and by e-mail after subscription by signing up for space weather alerts.

In this work, solar image processing tools such as ASAP, 3DSOLARVIEW, and SOLARSTUDIO that have been developed by Space Weather Research Team (SWRT) in University of Bradford will be introduced. ASAP is an established tool used for sunspot region detection/ classification and solar flare prediction and latest improvement to this tool will be discussed. 3DSOLARVIEW is a tool for modeling and displaying several solar features including sunspots, active regions, and magnetic field lines using different solar images. SOLARSTUDIO is a tool that can be used to apply several solar imaging algorithms to solar images, such as solar feature tracking, stereoscopic imaging, and video creating. These tools are planned to be available for public use by the end of 2010 and related demos will be available for public use during the conference.

In April and May 2010 the eruption of the volcano under Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull Glacier coused an ash plume which spread over the Europe and North Atlantic. We analysed data from Warsaw ionosonde from 14th April to 23rd April when the ash cloud was present over Poland. During this period geomagnetic conditions were quiet but the signal recorded on Warsaw ionograms was noisy and in some cases strong absorption caused almost completely lost of the signal. We compare this results with ionograms recorded on Hornsund ionosonde.From 19th May the activity of the volcano increased again but the wind divert to the North and the ash cloud was observed over Svalbard during period from 19th to 21st May. We observed increased absorption on Hornsund ionograms which cannot be explained by other physical phenomenon like passage of polar cusp, disturbed geomagnetic conditions etc. The increased absorption up to 20 % we observed also on Hornsund riometer in 20th May.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the soon to be completed European equivalent, Galileo are susceptible to many different error sources. Many of these error sources can be modelled to a level that allows precise positioning (<1cm). One shortcoming of these GNSS systems that is not currently adequately modelled is ionospheric scintillation. GNSS receivers are not robust to scintillation events which can degrade signal accuracy and in extreme cases lead to loss of lock.

This EPSRC UK research council project is a collaboration between the Universities of Nottingham, Bath and Newcastle. The project aims to establish a network of 12 GNSS scintillation monitoring stations across Europe and parts of Africa. The overall aim of the project is to quantify positioning errors over the next solar maximum (2011 - 2012) and to develop forecasting and mitigation techniques that would move towards making GNSS receivers robust to scintillation events.

Ionospheric Scintillation varies across different geographic locations and at any one location the temporal occurrence is unpredictable, but is modulated by the 11-year solar cycle. At high latitudes ionospheric scintillation is driven by auroral precipitation or instability of structures formed on polar cap patches. At high to mid latitudes scintillation may be due to the expansion of the polar cap. At southern mid latitudes, scintillation is related to the equatorial ionosphere where the dominant process is the instability of structures on the edges of the equatorial anomaly. As the mechanisms are different in each region it is necessary to establish a network over a wide area and extended time period.

Five of the proposed GNSS monitoring stations are currently operational. The scintillation parameters (S4 and σ_Φ) are affected by multipath making it difficult in some instances, particularly at lower elevations, to distinguish between scintillation events and multipath. Each of the scintillation stations will be analysed and filters developed and tested so that multipath may either be removed from the data from each site or made easily and consistently identifiable from scintillation events.

The present study concerns mainly variability of the wave-like activity in the parameters descibing state of plasma in the sporadic E layer and neutral atmosphere. Within the data collected since 2004 we search for common wave-like oscillations in the ionospheric plasma and neutral atmosphere over a wide period range of hours to several days, covering tidal and planetary oscillation domain. By means of the wavelet transform we detect wave occurence, its persistence and coherence of the wave-like structures.

The European Space Weather Web Portal (ESWeP) is an integrated website aiming to become the hub of the European scientific space weather community in order to facilitate collaborations between the communities involved in space weather monitoring, modeling and prediction activities. It also includes a section devoted to public outreach. The portal is being initiated by the COST 724 action, further developed in the frame of the follow-on action COST ES0803, and hosted by the Belgian Institute of Space Aeronomy. It is accessible through the URL http://www.spaceweather.eu/.

The last and forthcoming improvements will be presented, such as the plasmapause location nowcast and a forecast of well-connected solar energetic proton event, respectively developed by the Belgian Institute of Space Aeronomy and the University of Malaga. The plasmapause location nowcast is based on forecast of Kp provided by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. The SEP event forecast is based on the analysis of GOES X-ray and proton flux data.

The Space Environment Information System (SPENVIS) provides standardized access to most of the recent models of the hazardous space environment, through a user-friendly Web interface. The system allows spacecraft engineers to perform a rapid analysis of environmental problems related to natural radiation belts, solar energetic particles, cosmic rays, plasmas, gases, magnetic fields and micro-particles. The system includes several engineering models to assess problems such as surface and internal charging, energy deposition, solar cell damage and single event upset (SEU) rates. Various reporting and graphical utilities and extensive help facilities are included to allow engineers with relatively little familiarity to produce reliable results. SPENVIS also contains an active, integrated version of the ECSS Space Environment Standard and access to in-flight data on the space environment.

SPENVIS is an ESA operational software developed and maintained at Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. It is accessible through the URL http://www.spenvis.oma.be/.

The use of SPENVIS will be demonstrated with highlights on the last developments and implemented models.

SX5 is a project conducted by a consortium of 6 partners in 2010-2011 (2 years). It is funded by the European Union within the 7th Framework Programme and supervised by the GNSS Supervisory Authority GSA. Its main topic is the scientific exploitation of the Galileo broadband E5 signal. An E5 receiver and a scientific software application prototype will be developed as well as applications to various fields including ionospheric investigations. The Galileo E5 broadband signal features an ultimately low code range noise and the lowest possible multi-path errors compared to all other signals of all other GNSS. Ionospheric investigations with SX5 will be directed into four areas: (1) Vertical total electron content and its horizontal gradients. (2) Travelling ionospheric disturbances and gravity waves. (3) Ionisation layer coefficients for the NeQuick/IRI. (4) Ionospheric scintillations. More details about the project and our participation in will be given in the paper.

3-hour planetary geomagnetic indices aa, am, and Kp are in particular used in modeling the response of the magnetosphere/thermosphere/ionosphere system to the solar wind/magnetosphere coupling. These indices are based upon K indices measured at geomagnetic observatories. K-indices are proxies of the energy related to the geomagnetic activity, as predicted from semi-quantitative arguments (Menvielle, Ann. Géophys., 35, 189, 1979). The K-derived planetary geomagnetic indices therefore monitor the evolution with time of this energy, and provide characterization of the overall energy status of the magnetosphere.

The 3-hour granularity of K-derived planetary indices is a strong limitation for precise modeling of the magnetosphere/thermosphere/ionosphere system. We therefore introduce new indices based on another proxy of the magnetic energy, namely the root mean square (rms) of the irregular variations in the magnetic horizontal components.

Using such proxy does not put constraints on the length of the time interval over which the indices are derived. Local rms indices can be computed at each observatory, and rms planetary indices derived following algorithms similar to those used for am, or aa planetary geomagnetic indices derivation. rms-derived planetary geomagnetic indices based on different time intervals are presented, and their statistical relation with K-derived planetary indices is discussed. The contribution of such indices is illustrated by means of both selected events and statistical studies.

The current version of the UMA SEP Forecaster is based on a dual-model approach for predicting well- and poorly-connected SEP events (E > 10 MeV) in real-time. The first model tries to identify precursors of well-connected events, by empirically estimating the magnetic connectivity from a flaring region to the near-Earth, and identifying a great flare temporally associated to the phenomenon. The second model tries to identify precursors of poorly-connected events, by analyzing whether the observed differential proton flux behaviour is similar to the that during the beginning phase of historic poorly-connected SEP events of solar cycles 22 and 23, and therefore, deducing similar consequences. An additional module applies a high-level analysis for filtering out non-consistent forecasts. SEP forecasts are issued every 5 minutes after analyzing soft X-ray, differential and integral proton fluxes from GOES satellites, as well as SWPC solar events. The current version of the UMA SEP Forecaster has a probability of detection of 81.33% of all NOAA SEP events (E > 10 MeV) of solar cycles 22 and 23, a false alarm rate of 33.82%, and an average warning time of 5:19 hours. In the case of well-connected events, the forecaster identifies in real-time the associated flare and the active region with which the Earth is magnetically connected.

On 2nd May 2010 occurred moderate magnetic disturbances. We have simultaneous observations taken from ionosonde, GPS scintillation monitoring station and riometer located on Polish Polar Station Hornsund (77N 15E). We present analysis of ionograms, vertical drifts, TEC, intensity of scintillation and ionospheric absorption.
During this magnetic disturbances we observed increased incidence of spread F as well as presence of structures moving with vertical speed of 200m/s. This simultaneous observations during moderate ionospheric disturbances at high latitude shows that data recorded on the Hornsund ionosonde, riometer and GPS will give valuable results during upcoming solar maximum.

Established in 1997, the SWEN (Space Weather Euro News) is already in its 14th year. In order to ensure that the newsletter continues to be a valuable and useful sources of information on all space-weather matters, we will conduct a customer satisfaction survey. Participants of the European Space Weather Week will have the chance to fill in a form containing various questions on the general satisfaction with the newsletter, its usefulness, and proposal to change the appearance. Comments on how to improve the SWEN can be provided as well.

Autoscala is a software to automatically scale ionospheric characteristics from an ionogram.
Autoscala was applied to ionospheric station Warsaw, proved that ionosondes produced by Space Research Centre PAS and Autoscala software developed by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy are complete solution for real time ionosphere monitoring.
This work shows different examples of processing performed on high latitude ionograms recorded by Hornbsund Ionosonde, and reliability of Autoscala output.

It is a very important to use information obtained during the monitoring of GPS station coordinates to experimental verification of quantitative theory related to the many phenomena that deal with satellite method of the ground coordinates determination. We suggest use macro-modelling approach to process the times series of monitored coordinates. Macro-modelling method introduces the increases of the results efficiency. It also helps to predict target values, and make it possible to compare the results of calculations with experimental results. This method is good enough to determine the effect of ionosphere on the accuracy of GPS-coordinates of stations.

Development of virtual observatories (VO) in recent years is driven by a few key factors: 1. rapid growth in the amount of data, 2. the emergence of new information technologies, and 3. demands from end-users who want to have real-time information about environmental conditions. The Yamal peninsula is located in the Russian Arctic and includes the auroral zone so it is a good place to observe high latitude phenomena. On the other hand the Yamal peninsula is a key natural resource region in Russia, and the main source of gas and oil.
A network of magnetometers in the vicinity of the Yamal peninsula forms the main data source for the Virtual Magnetic Observatory (VMO). In practice the VMO will include the existing and proposed network of magnetometers. Due to intensive economical developments, a modern communications infrastructure is present on Yamal which gives us the possibility to support real-time data collection platforms.
On the Yamal peninsula space weather effects are one of the external causes which can lead to the disruption of technological systems. Effects of magnetic storms may at times make it necessary to perform corrections on geophysical prospecting, in drill processes of wells, in induction effects in pipelines and power grids, as well as in navigation and communications. Therefore local companies and institutes are interested in the near-Earth space weather and conditions in the regional electromagnetic environment.
The VMO will play a key role as the base for space weather services for the Yamal region. Polar research is performed in IZMIRAN and AARI, and both Institutes have agreed to install the VMO on the request from the Yamal region. This initiative is being supported by local authorities; 5 magnetometers are now in testing period and the next 3 magnetometers will be installed in the near future. In conjunction with other sources of space data which are available via the Internet our VMO might also be used for other usages to solve application tasks including geophysical prospecting.
Besides the harsh climate conditions all field works are in good progress, samples of data are in processing, and the data server is under development. We consider VMO as the collection of interoperating data archives and software tools, which utilize the Internet as the scientific research environment where scientific data can be easily accessed and analyzed. Previous experience in conducting the work on the Yamal peninsula is used in the current project. The magnetic data base from previous years collected on Yamal is available on the server [ http://www.cosmos.ru/magbase ]. The main instruments to process and to analyze the data based on the MatLab package is available on the server [ http://matlab.izmiran.ru/magdata/ ]. Now we are working towards building a friendly interface package for end-users who want to know of space weather conditions in the Yamal region.

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, EGNOS, provides online the regional maps of the vertical total electron content in timely, continuous regime. An increased knowledge of effects imposed by the ionosphere on operational radio systems could be earned by the new service providing online estimate of the degree of TEC perturbation at each grid point of the map expressed by the ionospheric W index. The stratification of the ionosphere perturbations is introduced with W index equal to 1 or -1 for the quiet state, 2 or -2 for the moderate disturbance, 3 or -3 for the moderate ionospheric storm, and 4 or -4 for intense ionospheric storm, with the sign "+" for TEC enhancement or '-' for TEC depletion (Gulyaeva and Stanislawska, 2008). We have applied W indexing to the EGNOS-TEC map output for producing online the hourly ionosphere-plasmasphere W index maps. The regional distribution of W index is produced at 66 grid points of a map (latitudes 35N to 60N in step of 5 deg., longitude -10E to 40E in step of 5 deg.). The W index maps characterizing quiet or stormy state of the ionosphere-plasmasphere plasma are provided online at http://www.cbk.waw.pl/ and archived for comparison with W index maps derived from the global ionospheric maps, GIM.

This paper presents a comparison between values of the critical frequency of the F2-layer (foF2) derived from digital ionosonde measurements at the low-middle latitude operating European station in Nicosia, Cyprus (coordinates: 35o N, 33o E geographic) and the DIAS system. DIAS (European Digital Upper Atmosphere Server) is a service based on a pan-European digital data collection on the state of the upper atmosphere, which offers real-time information and historical data collections provided by most operating ionospheric stations in Europe. Hourly values of foF2 were obtained using manually scaled data over Nicosia during the solar minimum period from January to December 2009. Diurnal and seasonal variations of foF2 are examined and comparisons of the observations are made with foF2 values extracted from DIAS generated foF2 maps.