This award supports the participation of approximately fifteen U.S. scientists in a U.S.-Finnish workshop on ionospheric and magnetospheric phenomena in the auroral zone and polar cap. The meeting has been co- organized by Drs. Peter M. Banks and C. Robert Clauer of Stanford University and Drs. Risto Pellinen and Hannu Koskinen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and others from the University of Oulu and the Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory. The objectives of the workshop are to review the results from past cooperative research efforts and to assess the opportunities for expanded or new collaborative research activities. The scope of the workshop includes radar activities, correlations with VIKING data (in particular the PROMIS interval and upcoming CDAW-9 activities), other topics in auroral and space plasma research where cooperation has been active, and coordinated data analysis using new computer data management and display techniques. Working groups will form to identify specific collaborative investiga- tions for both the near term and long term. Significant new opportunities for collaboration in this field are likely to exist due to new scientific initiatives in both the U.S. and Finnish research programs in auroral, magnetospheric and space research. The Finnish research program has grown tremendously in the last three years. The scientific staff in the Division of Geophysics at the Finnish Meteorological Institute has quadrupled, and the University of Oulu has founded a Space Institute and acts as a national center for EISCAT research. Finland has committed significant financial resources to space research through associate membership in the European Space Agency, and new ground based observational activities have been developed. In the U.S., the Aeronomy and Solar - Terrestrial Programs of the National Science Foundation are developing major new observational and modeling initiatives (CEDAR - Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions, and GEM - Geospace Environment Modeling.) These NSF Programs are contributing support to the meeting, and some support is expected from NASA as well. Coordination of these major U.S. observational programs with other international activities is extremely important to obtain the maximum scientific benefit.
