2024 Workshop: The 2023 and 2024 eclipses
Christopher Watson
Bharat Kunduri
Daniel Emmons
Alex Chartier
Nathaniel Frissell
Shunrong Zhang
Ercha Aa
Phil Erickson
Saurav Aryal
The focus of this workshop is on the ionosphere and atmosphere response to the annual and total solar eclipses that occurred on October 14, 2023 and April 8, 2024, respectively. Both eclipses were observable over a sizable portion of the North American continent. We solicit presentations reporting on investigations into one or both of these eclipses. The presentations can be theoretical or observational in nature — and we encourage presentations reporting ongoing research activities related to these eclipses (that may not have matured enough for reportable results).
Solar eclipses are rare and distinct opportunities to study the impulse response of the coupled geophysical system’s response to a rapid cessation (and subsequent resumption) of solar EUV flux on the system. The CEDAR community was fully engaged during the 2017 “Great American” eclipse. However, each eclipse is unique and presents new opportunities for investigations of all aspects of the coupled ionized and neutral portions of the atmosphere. In particular despite the unprecedented modeling and observational efforts carried out for this eclipse, many open questions remain unanswered. The 2024 event is the last total solar eclipse that will occur over the contiguous United States for the next 20 years. It is, therefore, important that the CEDAR community gather to disseminate investigative efforts related to these eclipses to enable science closure on outstanding eclipse science questions, and to identify new questions that will be tackled in the future.