Recent and planned research by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. on solar-terrestrial phenomena, as well as the greater openness in the Soviet scientific research climate, make it particularly timely for the two countries to hold a scientific workshop in this area. The workshop, which will take place in the U.S.S.R., will focus on four topics: Solar Activity, including solar cycle manifestations; Solar Wind, including the sources of solar winds and the theory for and evolution of large- and small-scale structures; Terrestrial Effects, such as magnetospheric responses as well as ground-based studies of ionosphere and magnetosphere disturbances; and Solar Acceleration, including the origin and propagation of solar cosmic rays as related to solar activity and terrestrial effects. The study of all these events, and particularly the quantitative reconstruction of the chain of events, requires the integration of knowledge from several disciplines. Crucial understanding is acquired from both space- and ground-based data, research on which in the U.S. is sponsored respectively by the NASA and NSF. This workshop will be one of very few, either within the US or internationally, that review the entire solar-terrestrial chain and thus will have the added benefit of helping to set objectives for the coordination of the U.S program of space- and ground-based research. The workshop is being organized jointly by the U.S. NAS and the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. (ASUSSR). The U.S. delegation will be led by Dr. Norman F. Ness, President of the Bartol Research Foundation, University of Delaware. The Soviet delegation will be chaired by Dr. Viktor N. Orayevskiy, Director of the ASUSSR Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Wave Propagation. On the U.S. side the project is being jointly supported by NASA and NSF. This project fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling leading researchers in the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to combine complementary efforts and capabilities in areas of strong mutual interest and competence in the field of basic scientific research on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and mutuality of benefit.
