FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3C) is a joint Taiwan/US science mission for weather, climate, space weather and geodetic research. The F3C mission was successfully launched in the U.S. on April 14, 2006 (April 15, 2006 Taiwan time). Six identical micro satellites, each carrying an advanced GPS radio occultation (RO) receiver, a Tiny Ionospheric Photometer (TIP) and a Tri Band Beacon (TBB) were deployed. The satellites have since been raised by Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) to their final orbit altitude at 800 km to achieve an operational constellation of six orbital planes separated by 30 degrees. The payload science data are currently being downloaded every orbit via two NOAA TT&C stations (in Alaska and Norway) and one NSF/NASA station in McMurdo, Antarctica and transferred to the COSMIC Data Analysis and Archive Center (CDAAC) at UCAR in Boulder. The CDAAC currently processes the COSMIC science data in near real-time - 90 percent of RO profiles are delivered to operational weather centers within 3 hours of observation. CDAAC also reprocesses data in a more accurate post-processed mode (within 8 weeks of observation) for COSMIC as well as other missions including GPS/MET, CHAMP, SAC-C, GRACE-A, and TerraSAR-X.

COSMIC is currently providing up to 2,000 daily RO profiles in the neutral atmosphere, electron density profiles and total electron content arcs in the ionosphere, GPS scintillation observations, and TIP radiance products. The data have already demonstrated their value for operational weather forecasting, hurricane forecasting, and investigations of the atmospheric boundary layer. The data have been used extensively to test ionospheric models and their use in operational space weather models is under development. COSMIC GPS RO data also have the potential to be of great benefit to climate studies due to their demonstrated high precision and global and diurnal sampling coverage.

This is an opportunity for students who are U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents to attend and participate in a special "student session" of the Taiwan-hosted Fifth FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Data Users Workshop, to be held in Taipei, Taiwan April 13-15, 2011. The student session of this international workshop is coordinated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) COSMIC Program, National Space Organization (NSPO) Taiwan, and National Central University (NCU) Taiwan.

Students will present posters in a formal student poster session of the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Workshop; participate in and present their research at a student conference, hosted by the National Central University; and submit a trip report after the completion of the trip. More specific details can be found here.

The student travel dates are April 9-17, 2011 and include site visits to NSPO and Taiwan universities as well as tours of Taipei.

Important Dates for the Student Trip:

Application submission deadline: January 31, 2011

Acceptance notification: February 8, 2011

Poster submission deadline: TBD

Presentation Materials deadline: TBD

Leaving the U.S. to go to Taiwan: April 9, 2011

Arriving back in the U.S.: April 17, 2011

Registration is no longer available. Applications were to be received by January 31, 2011. Selected participants were notified on February 8, 2011.