1. Ground Effects Topical Group ESWW4 Brussels 2007 Spokespersons Risto Pirjola (FMI, Finland), 2003-2006 Alan Thomson (BGS, UK), 2006- What are we interested in? What did we discuss? What did we conclude? www.lund.irf.se/HeliosHome/groundeffectstg.html

2. GETG: What Are We Interested In? Includes (but is not limited to) activities such as Modelling the occurrence of geomagnetic variations and geoelectric fields during space weather events Modelling GIC in electric power systems (discrete earthings) Modelling GIC in buried pipeline networks (continuous earthing) Measurements of geomagnetic variations, geoelectric fields and GIC Development of forecast techniques of GIC based on neural networks or on physical models Collaboration with power and pipeline industry on GIC research Advice on and forecast of geomagnetic activity to users, such as oil drilling and prospecting industry and aeromagnetic survey enterprises

3. What Did We Discuss? 1. List of members, Terms of Reference, Review of Actions 2. GETG Web Activities Home Site update (Magnus Wik, Sweden) – next slide Created/edited Wikipedia articles on Space Weather and GIC – next slide 3. GETG and Engineering Conferences/Journals Risto Pirjola – EUROEM 2008 + discussion on outreach to industry 4. Space situational awareness and the SWWT Mike Hapgood (Chair SWWT) + discussion on FP7 opportunities 5. Reports on new research work and publications (2006-2007) Alan Thomson (UK) – begun new scientific study for UK grid risk Larisa Trichtchenko (Canada) – outreach activities at North America industry conferences Pavel Hejda (CZ) – study of pipeline GIC in Czech Republic gas network Jurgen Watermann (DMI) – DMI concentrating now on data collection and remote sensing, not space physics Risto Pirjola (FMI) – active GIC research e.g. with Brazil, Sweden, …

4. http://www.lund.irf.se/getg/index.html

6. Ground Effects Topical Group What Did We Conclude? EUROEM was not regarded as the most appropriate place for GIC and industry interaction (duration, cost, audience). IEEE meetings, better outreach, etc, will be considered further by Risto Pirjola and Alan Thomson, on behalf of the group Links to papers, posters and presentations will be added to website – for our use and to advertise to industry and scientific colleagues SSA may be a useful aid/opportunity/stimulus in securing FP7 funding for ground-based activities, e.g. European wide GIC risk study, or wider networking of existing magnetometer networks. Will be discussed by email.

8. EUROEM2008 Conference Lausanne, Switzerland, July 21-25, 2008 http://www.euroem.org/ The conferences provide a forum within the international scientific and engineering community for Electromagnetics. EUROEM/AMEREM conferences provide a way for GIC/SpaceWeather scientists to advertise their research to the engineering community. However, otherwise the topics at EUROEM/AMEREM conferences are usually a little outside the main interests of GIC/SpaceWeather scientists (and the fee is expensive!). Organisers suggested one half-day session, ~10 contributions on GIC, that may be published