REPW 2007 Rarotonga Energetic Particle Workshop 6-10 August 2007 Rarotonga , Cook Islands

 

Final programme now available!
This is the updated (and final) REPW programme which reflects what happened during the meeting (more or less).

Abstract Listing available from here!

Post-conference announcements:
Kia Orana everyone. Thanks for coming to Rarotonga and taking part in the meeting - and for the free discussions during the talks. That was certainly one of the features of our workshop, and while it made the timetable rather interesting, it really made the science side much more valuable. I've now uploaded the powerpoints I gathered from people during the workshop, and also have put up the pictures that people provided to me. Thanks!  Craig

General Information

Meeting Description

The Rarotonga Energetic Particle Workshop (REPW) 2007, builds on a series of informal workshops which have taken place over recent years. In the past these meetings have been organised by Bernie Blake on Maui, followed by the Hermanus Workshop organised by Reiner Friedel in South Africa in 2005. Again, we plan for REPW to be an informal, workshop-style meeting, with plenty of time for discussion and communication. Since we would like to keep REPW informal and manageable, we follow the earlier practice of making the meeting by invitation only. We aim to limit the workshop to ~25 people. We are also building on the Queenstown (New Zealand) ISEC 2001 meeting. This was very successful, and we spent a lot of time deciding where to have the next New Zealand organised conference. After much discussion, we have settled on Rarotonga, an island nation in the South Pacific with strong links to New Zealand.

The workshop is targeted at active researchers in the field of energetic particle dynamics in the inner magnetosphere, who are involved in either data analysis, modelling or theory of the the acceleration, transport and loss of these particles. Since the understanding of the inner magnetospheric particle dynamics depends to a very large degree on the understanding of the dynamic magnetic field, the modelling and specification of the storm-time magnetic fields is also an active part of this work.

If you feel that an invitation should be extended to a researcher not on the current distribution list for this workshop please get in touch with the conference organiser (Craig Rodger). Note that we are currently seeking travel funds to provide partial student travel support, allowing invitations to be extended to students.

The purpose of the workshop is to review our current state of knowledge and to present and discuss the latest results for energetic particle dynamics.

Workshop format:
A series of 7 half-day sessions with emphasis on an informal workshop atmosphere, with a poster session to allow additional presentations.

Organising Committee

Sponsors

The Physics Department, University of Otago.

Note that we are currently seeking travel funds to provide partial support for students to attend. Once we have student money we plan to invite students to apply for access to this pool of partial travel support.

Conference Deadlines

Registration deadline: 29 June 2007

Please complete this registration form and fax it to Umbe Cantu at (+1)713-348-5143

Registration and Abstract Submission

Many participants have asked Anthony and I about the science plan behind the meeting, with questions like "what do you
want me to talk about". Our goal is a very informal workshop-style meeting, informal workshop-style meeting, with lots of
time for discussion and interactions. Some of this discussion may well be "offline" - in fact we intend for the formal
sessions to finish in the mid-late afternoon to allow for very informal discussions, maybe at the beach.

Looking at our participant list, it seems obvious our workshop should aim to have a strong emphasis on radiation belt
physics (rather than empirical models, or effects on spacecraft, for example). We expect to allow each person a 45min
speaking slot, so as to allow for lots of background information and discussion. We would prefer each participant to only
present once, but if you feel you have a burning need, tell us. At this point we plan to have "full days" on Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday and have a half day on the last Friday to allow people some time to contemplate the new
information.

Now would be a very good time to prepare a title and abstract for your talk! If at all possible, we would like to receive
these by Friday 8 June 2007. For safeties sake, please send to both Anthony Chan and Craig Rodger.
 

Hotel Information

The conference will take place at The Rarotongan Beach Resort. You can find out more information about the facilities and location at their website. The Rarotongan is located in the south-west corner of the island, at Aroa Lagoon (at the SW turning point in the map below). We have booked 20 Garden Rooms for REPW participants, and negotiated a room rate of NZ$225 per room per night. This includes a daily "Tropical Breakfast". Garden rooms have air-conditioning, filtered and UV - purified water on tap, a furnished private veranda, refrigerator, tea/coffee making facilities, bath/shower, hairdryer, insect screen & fan. Some participants have indicated that they plan to bring their partner. We have confirmed with The Rarotongan that our rate  is per Room, Per Night for single / twin / or double occupancy.

The Rarotongan will handle the bookings from our group. The best route is to email The Rarotongan Groups Manager, Heather Rorani at heather.rorani@rarotongan.co.ck. Mention that you are making the booking as part of the REPW meeting, and she will ensure you get the right deal, and that our rooms are all allocated correctly.

Note that Rarotonga uses the New Zealand dollar.  Indicative exchange rates can be found at this NZ-band website.

Rarotonga and the Cook Islands Information

The Cook Islands consist of 15 islands with a total population of approximately 18,000, scattered over some 2 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean. Rarotonga is the capital island of the country, and is only 32 km in circumference. About half of the population of the Cook Islands live on the island of Rarotonga. It is dominated by high mountain peaks from which lush rain forests cascade to a palm-fringed shore. The island is almost completely encircled by a reef, which harbours a lagoon of clear turquoise waters and many inviting white sand beaches. The lagoon extends several hundred yards (meters) to the reef, which then slopes steeply to deep water. The reef fronts the shore to the north of the island, making the lagoon there unsuitable for swimming and watersports, but to the south east, particularly around Muri, the lagoon is at its widest and deepest. This part of the island is the most popular with tourists because of the suitability of the lagoon for swimming, snorkelling and boating. Agricultural terraces, flats, and swamps surround the central mountain area.

The climate is equable. Rarotonga is the second furthest south of the Cooks group and is almost exactly opposite Honolulu in relative latitude -- just inside the Tropic of Capricorn. REPW is scheduled for the local "winter months", which should provide very pleasant conditions as indicated by the typical weather information below:

Trivia
·      Rarotonga only has two bus routes; Clockwise & Anti-Clockwise around the rim of the island.
·      Rarotonga has a 3-Dollar bill in circulation (which has value NZ$3). Otherwise New Zealand money is used.

For more information:

Cook Islands Web
Official site of the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation
Wikipedia - Cook Islands
Information on entering the Cooks from the Cooks Islands Government
Information from the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation on getting to Rarotonga

Travelling to Rarotonga

Rarotonga is serviced by a single airport, Rarotonga International Airport, which is the Cook Islands main international gateway. It is located 3km west of the national capital city Avarua.

From the US the only carrier that serves Rarotonga  is Air New Zealand, code-shared with United Airlines, from LAX. Until recently, there were flights three times a week, stopping briefly in Papeete (French Polynesia) before flying on to the Cooks. However, this service is about to change. The new service is scheduled to leave LAX on the Sunday evening and arrive in Rarotonga at 6 am on Monday. The return flight from Rarotonga to LAX departs Rarotonga on the Saturday night at 11.40 pm, and arrives at LAX next day at 12.10pm (Sunday lunchtime). We have timed the start of REPW to fit in with this direct flight from LAX. However, seat numbers will be limited, so book as soon as you can! Indicative prices are US$1100 LAX-Rarotonga  return. It is also possible to fly through New Zealand, connecting to the daily flight from Auckland to Rarotonga, again on Air New Zealand, although this will be a considerably longer flight.

Pacific Blue also services Rarotonga, flying from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland. The Australian flights actually fly to a central hub in Australia (Brisbane), and then to Auckland, before flying on to Rarotonga.

Air Rarotonga flies inside the Cook Islands, should you want to explore the country; 15 volcanic and atoll islands spread out over 2million square kms of the Pacific Ocean -an area the size of Europe.

If you are having trouble with getting travel information or flights bookings, contact  the conference organiser (Craig Rodger). He has a New Zealand-based travel agent (who works over email) that he strongly recommends.