The EGU conference will be held in Vienna, Austria, and online from May 3 to May 8, 2026. The deadline for abstract submission is 15 January 2026, 13:00 CET. Sessions relevant to ATST can mostly be found in the ST Programme Group, in the following sub-programmes:
- ST1 – The Sun and Heliosphere
- ST2 – Magnetosphere
- ST3 – Ionosphere and Thermosphere
- ST4 – Space Weather and Space Climate
You will find below sessions that have been specifically advertised to ATST.
Session ESSI1.18 – Machine Learning in Planetary Sciences and Heliophysics
Conveners: Hannah Theresa Rüdisser, Gautier Nguyen, George Miloshevich, Valentin Tertius Bickel
The rapid growth of missions, observatories, and monitoring systems in the heliosphere, across the Solar System and from terrestrial or airborne facilities has created an unprecedented volume and diversity of data. Making sense of these observations requires methods that can both process large datasets efficiently and extract meaningful physical insight. Machine learning has become an important tool in this effort, complementing established physics-based approaches by enabling new ways of discovering patterns, building predictive models, and working with complex or incomplete measurements.
In recent years, increasing attention has been given to hybrid methods that combine machine learning with physical models. These approaches are now being applied across planetary and heliophysical domains, from forecasting solar eruptions and solar wind conditions, to automating the analysis of planetary surfaces or improving on-board data handling. They demonstrate how data-driven methods can benefit from physical knowledge, while physics-based models can be improved through modern data analysis techniques.
This session aims to provide an inclusive and interdisciplinary forum for researchers applying machine learning in planetary sciences and heliophysics, as well as those developing methods at the intersection between data-driven and physics-based approaches. We particularly encourage contributions that illustrate the wide range of applications, encourage exchange between disciplines and showcase the transition from research to operations.
(Transmis par Hannah Rüdisser)
Session ST1.11 – The physics of the large scale heliosphere: measurements, theory and modeling
Conveners: Kostas Dialynas, André Galli, Eleonora Puzzoni, Pontus Brandt
If you are planing to participate in the next European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly (Vienna, 3-8 May 2026), kindly consider submitting your abstract(s) to our Session (ST1.11), which focuses on discussing the science results and open questions pertaining to the physics of the large scale heliosphere (theory, models and measurements):
Our sun’s astrosphere, that we call the Heliosphere, is formed by the interaction of the solar wind (SW) with the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM). The ground-breaking observations of the two Voyager spacecraft provided in-situ particle and fields measurements throughout the upwind direction of the heliosphere, confirming the formation and position of the termination shock (TS) where the free expansion of the supersonic SW terminates and transitions into the heated non-thermal plasma region called the heliosheath (HS). The latter acts a reservoir of ions and electrons which extends to the heliopause (HP), the interface between our solar bubble and the interstellar environment. Those measurements were placed in a global context by the remotely sensed Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) observations from IBEX, SOHO/HSTOF, as well as Cassini/INCA. As the Voyagers continue to provide invaluable information from the VLISM, a region in space that may become accessible again by a future Interstellar Probe mission, the New Horizons spacecraft is providing important observations of Pickup Ions (PUIs) in the supersonic SW. New Horizons is expected to reach the TS in the 2027-2034 time frame, where it will obtain continuous plasma moments and high resolution data of PUIs and energetic particle spectra at the TS and in the heliosheath. With new ENA measurements from the IMAP mission, the focus of the heliospheric community (e.g. the SHIELD NASA-DRIVE Center) is turned to combining all available observations and advanced models to construct a predictive model for the large scale heliosphere and examine its role in modulating the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs). Further, recent research examines the effects of the Sun’s passage through massive interstellar clouds on the shape and size of the heliosphere, as well as the resulting implications for Earth’s climate and biodiversity. The session welcomes contributions that are related (but not limited) to: analyses of spacecraft observations, numerical and analytical models concerning the large-scale structure and dynamics of the heliosphere and other astrospheres, the interaction of our heliosphere with the VLISM over its journey through the galaxy and its effects on Earth’s climate, as well as the science (open questions, puzzles and discussions) that drive the requirements for measurements and instrumentation from future spacecraft missions to better understand the physics of our heliosphere and its interstellar environment.
(Transmis par Dimitra Koutroumpa)
Session ST3.6 – Polar and midlatitude ionosphere–atmosphere studies through ground-based observations
Conveners: Maxime Grandin, Veronika Haberle, Gaël Cessateur, Jia Jia, and Mathieu Barthelemy
The Earth’s atmosphere and ionosphere are subject to significant variability associated with solar and space forcing. While this is predominantly relevant at high latitudes, midlatitudes can also be affected as observed during severe geomagnetic storms that occurred e.g. in 2024–2025. While in situ observations of the ionosphere and mesosphere–lower-thermosphere are only possible with spacecraft and sounding rockets, a wealth of information is obtained thanks to remote sensing techniques using ground-based instruments.
For instance, ground-based magnetometers, used in dense networks, routinely enable the derivation of ionospheric currents and geomagnetic indices. Optical instruments not only encompass imagers observing auroral and airglow emissions, but also consist of scanning Doppler imagers, Fabry-Perot interferometers, and lidars which measure upper atmospheric winds and temperatures, in particular in the thermosphere and mesosphere. Besides, visible spectrometers disentangle the spectral signatures of different auroral processes, enabling discrimination between precipitation-driven emissions and signatures of thermospheric heating. Ionospheric parameters can also be measured with radars, spanning a wide range of active (ionosondes, meteor radars, coherent and incoherent scatter radars, VLF transmitters) and passive (riometers, VLF receivers, GNSS receivers) systems. With increased interest in understanding space weather and atmosphere coupling as a system, polar atmospheric composition measurements of the middle atmosphere are also valuable. Finally, citizen science data such as images taken by aurora chasers are increasingly used to complement observations from instruments.
Combining ground-based observations from various instruments enables the development of novel data analysis methodologies that can provide access to physical quantities previously difficult to quantify, such as Joule heating. Ground-based measurements are also increasingly valuable for data assimilation into numerical models, thanks to which we can both enhance our understanding of the underlying physics of ionosphere–atmosphere processes and improve our space weather forecasting capability.
In this session, we invite contributions featuring the use of ground-based instruments in studies of the ionosphere–atmosphere system at polar and mid-latitudes. We welcome contributions of space weather and ionospheric–atmospheric physics processes of various time and spatial scales.