Ken Tapping, November 3 2010

One of the most enjoyable things we do each year is attend conferences and workshops. It is always exciting to get together with other scientists to share what we are working on and to come up with new ideas and questions. My favourite conferences of all are the “Canadian Solar Meetings,” one of which I recently returned from. As always, this conference far surpassed my expectations. It was held in the Laurentian Hills, in Quebec, not far from Montreal – a perfect environment and opportunity to talk science.

Back in 2003, some colleagues and I were wondering how strong solar-related science remained in Canada. We needed a means of garnering more national focus on this area of research, at a time where the Sun-Earth connection was becoming extremely important, particularly for Canada. We decided to organize a “Canadian Solar Workshop” with the objective of bringing together Canadian scientists, engineers and students working in areas of solar physics, space weather, and the impact of the Sun on the Earth and on our activities. The meeting was a huge success and we have held meetings every year since. The attendance grew and gradually the workshops evolved into meetings that extended beyond science, to planning and co-ordinating activities in Canada. Although the primary focus of these meetings is national, international participation increases the value of the meetings immensely. This year we had attendees from France, the USA and Algeria.

We started with the latest research on the internal workings of the Sun which led to presentations on its impact on the brightness of the Sun, the radiation and particle streams it launches into space, and solar wind. We then continued our discussions on the impact of “space weather” and the effect it has on our activities in space, the atmosphere, climate and on our infrastructure. For example, although it is common knowledge that the Sun causes communications failures, power outages and damage or destruction to spacecraft, did you know it also enhances the rate of corrosion in pipelines? This information is of particular interest to Canada because it is a large country reaching high latitudes, where the effects of space weather are strongest. Furthermore, we depend upon satellites, cables and pipelines, all of which are vulnerable to the effects of the Sun.

The implications and importance of solar-related research is underlined by the participation in these meetings from a variety of Canadian universities, agencies and government departments. Of course, although it is great to see lots of fellow scientists in attendance, the real proof of the pudding comes from the large number of student participants and their stated and repeated enthusiasm for these meetings. It is this younger generation that we will depend upon to sustain the efforts we are making, because the issues discussed are only getting more important.