Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 14:34:31 -0600
From: Joann C Joselyn
The IUGG Electronic Journal
Volume 4 No. 6 (June 1, 2004)
This short, informal newsletter is intended to keep IUGG Member National
Committees informed about the activities of the IUGG Associations, and
actions of the IUGG Secretariat. Past issues are posted on the IUGG Web
site. Please forward this message to those who will benefit from the
information. Your comments are welcome.
Contents
1. The GeoUnions - a new consortium for Earth sciences
2. IGY+50: IPY, IHY, and CAWSES
3. PAIGH Cartography Commission
4. IUGG Activities in Capacity Building
5. IUGG-related meetings occurring during June - August 2004
1. The GeoUnions - a new consortium for Earth sciences
At the International Council for Science (ICSU) Unions meeting in
February, officers of four of the Unions with an emphasis on Earth
science met together to explore common areas of interest. These were
IUGG, the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), the
International Geographical Union (IGU), and the International Union of
Soil Sciences (IUSS). Together, they selected 5 topics for further
development: Cities and Megacities, Desertification, Groundwater,
Geophysical Hazards, and Health. Ideas for cooperative work in these
areas are being exchanged among representatives of each Union, and
proposals for projects will be prepared for a meeting in Boulder,
Colorado (USA) on September 3, 2004. At that meeting, the
Secretary-General of International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing will also attend to access ways in which ISPRS could contribute
to each initiative. We believe that improved communication and
co-operation among the GeoUnions will greatly enhance the achievement of
our common goals.
2. IGY+50
The May issue of the IUGG E-Journal featured information about two of
the initiatives (the electronic Geophysical Year and International Year
of Planet Earth) planned to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the
International Geophysical Year (IGY). This issue features three more -
IPY, IHY, and CAWSES.
The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 is envisioned as an
intense, internationally coordinated campaign of research that will
initiate the dawn of a new era in polar science. IPY 2007-2008 will
include research in both polar regions and involve strong links to the
rest of the globe. It will be multi- and interdisciplinary in scope and
international in participation. It will educate and excite the public,
and help train the next generation of engineers, scientists, and
leaders. Previous IPYs (1882-1883, and 1932-1933) promoted
unprecedented exploration and discoveries and fundamentally changed how
science was conducted in the polar regions. The new campaign will
include elements from a wide range of scientific disciplines, including
issues related to human populations. It coincides with the 50th
anniversary of the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958), which
began as an IPY, as well as the 50th anniversary of the ICSU Scientific
Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR). More information is posted at
www.us-ipy.org.
The International Heliophysical Year 2007 (IHY) aims to advance our
understanding of the phenomena and physical processes that govern the
Sun's influence on Earth. It will enhance an ongoing NASA program
"Living with a Star," and is coordinated with the UN Basic Space Science
Initiative through their Office for Outer Space Affairs. While an
extraordinary event of the IGY was the launch of Sputnik on October 4,
1957, the emphasis of the IHY will rather be on science, not new
missions. A recent workshop identified several international projects
that will employ existing data to promote increased understanding of the
basic physical processes in space. The web site for the IHY is
ihy.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Climate and Weather in the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES) is an initiative of
the ICSU Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP).
During 2004-2008, CAWSES will link the world's scientists in a
cooperative effort to study the entire interactive Sun-Earth system.
Recognizing the impressive past, present, and planned space missions;
ground-based observations; and theory, modeling, and data analysis
efforts aimed at understanding aspects of the Sun-Earth system, CAWSES,
seeks to mobilize the international solar-terrestrial science community
to fully utilize past, present, and future data; to produce improvements
in space weather forecasting, design of space- and Earth-based
technological systems, and understanding the role of solar-terrestrial
influences on Global Change. The CAWSES Science Steering Group (SSG)
has organized around four themes: Solar Influence on Climate; Space
Weather: Science and Applications; Atmospheric Coupling Processes; and
Space Climatology. Current information about CAWSES can be found on the
SCOSTEP web site: www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SCOSTEP/scostep.html.
3. PAIGH Cartography Commission
The Cartography Commission of the Pan-American Institute for Geography
and History (PAIGH) has recently announced their new officers and a
message that they are sincerely interested in improving relationships
with the international associations related to cartography, especially
those involved with the development of geo-informatics matters in the
Pan American region. IUGG President Dr. Uri Shamir extended
congratulations to the new Commission President Lt.-Col. Barriga Vargas,
Vice-President Mrs. Alejandra Coll, and Technical Secretary Mr. Juan C.
Montero. The IUGG liaison to PAIGH is Dr.-Ing. Hermann Drewes (Germany).
4. IUGG Activities in Capacity Building
ICSU has established a Panel for Priority Area Assessment on Capacity
Building. Dr. Harsh Gupta, a member of the IUGG Bureau, is a member of
this Panel that will access present activities in capacity building and
recommend future actions including development of new programmes, policy
initiatives, and new priorities for the ICSU grants programme.
IUGG was invited to update our report prepared in 2001 (posted on the
IUGG Web site) as input to the Panel. Each of the IUGG Associations has
programs aimed at supporting Earth science in developing countries using
strategies such as topical workshops and other training opportunities,
free distribution of observational methods and analysis manuals and
other scientific publications, and by providing direct support for
disadvantaged scientists to attend international meetings. At the Union
level, in 2002-03 IUGG awarded $25,000 to assist scientists from
economically disadvantaged countries to attend conferences, and nearly
$87,000 to support interdisciplinary research initiatives in South
America, South East Asia, and Africa. In addition, the IUGG ad hoc
committee 'Geophysics: The Future' continues to engage young scientists
worldwide in the work of the Union.
5. IUGG-related meetings occurring during June - August 2004
A calendar of meetings of interest to IUGG disciplines (especially those
organized or sponsored by IUGG Associations) is posted on the IUGG Web
Site [www.IUGG.org]. Specific information about these meetings,
including web links, can be found there. Individual Associations also
list more meetings on their web sites appropriate to their disciplines.
June 1 - 8 IAMAS, Kos, Greece, Quadrennial Ozone Symposium of the
International Ozone Commission
June 9 - 11 IASPEI, Emmetten - Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, GeoMod2004 "From
Mountains to Sedimentary Basins: Modelling and Testing Geological Processes"
June 14 - 25 IASPEI, Golden, Colorado, USA, Summer School on Mathematical
Geophysics and Uncertainty in Earth Models
June 16 - 18 IUGG/CMG, New York, NY, USA, CMG2004: 25th IUGG Conference on
Mathematical Geophysics
June 20 - 23 Oulu, Finland, 1st International Symposium on Space Climate:
Direct & Indirect Measurements of Long-Term Solar Activity
June 21 - 24 IAVCEI, Alexandria, Virginia, USA, Volcanic Ash and Other
Airbourne Hazardous Materials
June 21 - 25 CLIVAR, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 1st International CLIVAR
Science Conference
June 30 - July 3 IASPEI, Mizunami, Gifu, Japan, International Workshop on
Active Monitoring in the Solid Earth Geophysics
July 4 - July 9 SEDI, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, SEDI Symposium
July 5 - July 9 AOGS, Suntec, Singapore, Asia Oceania Geosciences Society
(AOGS) 1st Annual Meeting
July 12 - July 14 China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, China, 3rd
International Conference on Continental Earthquakes: Mechanism,
Prediction, Emergency Management, and Insurance (III ICCE)
July 12 - July 15 IAGA/ICMA, Bath, U.K., 2nd Workshop on the Vertical
Coupling in the Atmosphere/Ionosphere System
July 12 - July 16 IAHS/UNESCO/WMO, London, U.K., Hydrology: Science and
Practice for the 21st Century
July 12 - July 23 ISPRS, Istanbul, Turkey, 20th Congress of the
International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
July 18 - July 2 EMSEV, Orlando, Florida USA, Acoustic Emissions, and
Crustal Stress and Exhalation
July 18 - July 25 COSPAR, Paris, France, 35th Scientific Assembly
July 18 - July 23 IAMAS, Bologna, Italy, International Cloud Physics Conference
July 19 - July 22 IAHS, Waterloo, Ontario Canada, GQ 2004: Bring Groundwater
Quality Research to the Watershed Scale
July 20 - July 23 IAMAS, Yokohama, Japan, Workshop on the Solution of
Partial Differential Equations on the Sphere
July 21 - July 25 International Institute of Informatics and Systemics,
Orlando, Florida USA, 10th International Conference on Information
Systems Analysis and Synthesis: ISAS 2004 and CITSA 2004
July 25 - July 31 ICSU/SCAR, Bremen, Germany, XXVIII SCAR Open Science
Conference; "Antarctic and the Southern Ocean in the Global System"
July 26 - July 30 IAMAS, Kyoto, Japan, 16th International Conference on
Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols
August 1 - 6 SPARC, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 3rd SPARC
General Assembly
August 1 - 6 IASPEI, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, The 13th World
Conference on Earthquake Engineering
August 2 - 6 IAHS, Moscow, Russia, Int'l Symposium on Sediment Transfer
through the Fluvial System
August 2 - 8 IAHS, Tallin, Estonia, Nordic Hydrology Conference
August 15 - 20 IGU, Glasgow, Scotland, 30th International Geographical
Congress
August 16 - 19 Nigerian Union of Planetary and Radio Sciences (NUPRS),
Lagos, Nigeria, International Workshop on Nigerian SAT 1 as a New Tool
for Economic Empowerment
August 20 - 28 IUGS, Florence, Italy, 32nd International Geologic Congress
August 30-31 IUGG, Boulder, Colorado USA, IUGG Bureau meeting
August 31 - September 2 IUGG, Boulder, Colorado USA, IUGG Executive Committee
End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 4 Number 6 (June 2004)
J. A. Joselyn, Secretary General [www.IUGG.org]
secretariat@iugg.org fax: 1 303 497 3645