Advances in Geosciences www.adv-geosci.net 1680-7340 1680-7359 13 Solar, heliospheric and external geophysical effects on the Earth’s environment: scientific and educational initiatives 2007 10.5194/adgeo-13-3-2007 http://www.adv-geosci.net/13/3/2007/ http://www.adv-geosci.net/13/3/2007/adgeo-13-3-2007.html http://www.adv-geosci.net/13/3/2007/adgeo-13-3-2007.pdf 3 9 2007-07-30 The EuroSprite2005 Observational Campaign: an example of training and outreach opportunities for CAL young scientists O. Chanrion chanrion@spacecenter.dk N. B. Crosby E. Arnone F. Boberg O. Van der Velde A. Odzimek Á. Mika C.-F. Enell P. Berg M. Ignaccolo R. J. Steiner S. Laursen T. Neubert Danish National Space Center, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK Laboratoire d'Aéologie, Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France Department of Physics, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, University of Oulu, Sodankylä, Finland Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath, UK CAL Young Scientist The four year "Coupling of Atmospheric Layers (CAL)" EU FP5 Research Training Network project studied unanswered questions related to transient luminous events (sprites, jets and elves) in the upper atmosphere. Consisting of ten scientific work-packages CAL also included intensive training and outreach programmes for the young scientists hired. Educational activities were based on the following elements: national PhD programmes, activities at CAL and other meetings, a dedicated summer school, and two European sprite observational campaigns. The young scientists were strongly involved in the latter and, as an example, the "EuroSprite2005" observational campaign is presented in detail. Some of the young scientists participated in the instrument set-up, others in the campaign logistics, some coordinated the observations, and others gathered the results to build a catalogue. During the four-month duration of this campaign, all of them took turns in operating the system and making their own night observations. The ongoing campaign activities were constantly advertised and communicated via an Internet blog. In summary the campaign required all the CAL young scientists to embark on experimental work, to develop their organisational skills, and to enhance their ability to communicate their activities. The campaign was a unique opportunity to train and strengthen skills that will be an asset to their future careers and, overall, was most successful. Allin, T H., Neubert, T., and Laursen S.: Imaging systems in TLE research, in: Sprites, Elves and Intense Lightning Discharges, edited by: F�llekrug, M., Mareev, E A., and Rycroft, M J., Springer, NATO Science Series, 225, 101–121, 2006. Allin, T H.: Design Methods for High-Speed, High-resolution Digital Multispectral Imager, PhD Dissertation, Technical University of Denmark, 2005. Arnold, N F. and Neubert, T.: The Electric Earth : Cosmic Influences on the Atmosphere, Astron. Geophys., 43, 6.9–6.12, December 2002. Crosby, N B.: Enter the World of Sprites, Jets and Elves, Sci. Connect., 14 (French and Dutch version), December 2006. Neubert, T.: On Sprites and their Exotic Kin, Science, 300, p 747, 2003. Neubert, T., Allin, T H., Blanc, E., Farges, T., Haldoupis, C., Mika, �., Soula, S., Knutsson, L., Van der Velde, O., Marshall, R A., Inan, U., S�tori, G., B�r, J., Hughes, A., Collier, A., Laursen, S., and Lundgaard Rasmussen, I.: Co-ordinated observations of transient luminous events during the EuroSprite2003 campaign, J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys., 67, 807–820, 2005.