2021 Workshop: 2021 Eclipses

Since the Great American Eclipse on August 21, 2017, the eclipse-induced ionosphere-thermosphere (I-T) variations have drawn renewed community interest. These variations are caused by a sudden reduction in solar irradiation (and therefore in photo-ionization and photo-absorption rates) as the Moon shadow sweeps through the Earth's atmosphere at a supersonic speed. New insights into the unique eclipse effects on the geospace system through commonly known fundamental coupling processes have been achieved. These effects include, to list a few, excitation of ionospheric bow waves and other waves, thermospheric waves, ionospheric density variations associated with irregular EUV sources on the solar disk, electrodynamic disturbances and eclipse-time tidal wave modulation at low and equatorial latitudes, ionospheric disturbances in the conjugate hemisphere, etc. In 2021, two solar eclipses will occur in the Arctic and Antarctic regions during polar summers. These will provide rare opportunities for the community to study geospace responses to the polar eclipses in a comparative sense. We invite the community members to [1] report new progress in understanding geospace disturbances during recent and past solar eclipse events (especially in high latitudes), and [2] discuss and coordinate observational and modeling efforts for the forthcoming polar eclipses: June 10, 2021 and December 4, 2021.