Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 12:53:04 -0600
From: Joann C Joselyn
The IUGG Electronic Journal
Volume 4 No. 10 (October 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. Report of the Executive Committee meeting in Boulder, Colorado
2. Report of the GeoUnions Meeting
3. Corrections and updates to the IUGG Yearbook now due
4. IGY+50 Developments
5. UN International Year of Physics 2005
6. IUGG-related meetings occurring during October - December 2004
1. Report of the IUGG Executive Committee meeting in Boulder, Colorado
From August 29 through September 2, the IUGG Executive Committee
(Bureau members and Association Officers) met in Boulder, Colorado for
an official meeting. Guests at portions of the meeting included David
Jackson, representing the IUGG Finance Committee; Werner Janoschek,
past-Secretary General of IUGS; and Priscilla Grew, Chair of the US
National Committee for IUGG. On September 1, the US National Committee
for IUGG also met in Boulder, and there was a useful, informal, joint
meeting of the two groups.
At the EC meeting, reports from Bureau Officers and each Association
were received as well as reports from the Commission on Geophysical Risk
and Sustainability, the Commission on Mathematical Geophysics, the
Committee on Studies of Earth's Deep Interior, and the proposed joint
IUGG/IUGS International Lithosphere Programme. Recent ICSU activities,
such as their Panel Assessments on the Environment and Sustainable
Development, and Scientific Data and Information, were reviewed.
Actions of the Executive Committee included a change in nomenclature of
those bodies formerly known as inter-Associations Committees and
Commissions that are now to be known as Union Commissions, adoption of
general guidelines for the structure and operations of Union
Commissions, establishment of a new Union Commission for Cryospheric
Sciences, formal endorsement of the IAGA initiative for an electronic
Geophysical Year (eGY), establishment of a working group to further
develop an IUGG mission statement and a roadmap to achieve our
objectives, adoption of the Theme for the 2007 General Assembly (Earth:
Our Changing Planet); and consideration a new IUGG initiative to
promote the Geosciences in Africa. The IUGG Budget for the remainder of
the term was discussed, and modifications were proposed which will be
presented to the Finance Committee.
The next meeting of the IUGG Executive Committee will be 9-11 September
2005 in Perugia, Italy. On 12 September 2005, the Scientific Programme
Committee for the 2007 IUGG General Assembly will meet.
2. Report of the GeoUnions Meeting
Beginning at the International Council for Science (ICSU) Unions meeting
in Paris last February, a consortium of the Unions that address Earth
science was formed to explore common areas of interest and launch a
joint science program that will initially encompass five thematic
topics: cities and megacities, desertification, groundwater, hazards,
and health. These Unions are IUGG, the International Union of
Geological Sciences (IUGS), the International Geographical Union (IGU),
the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), and recently added, the
International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). On
September 1-2, 2004, representatives from all except IUSS of these
GeoUnions met in Boulder, Colorado to discuss the scientific
initiatives. Those topics that have made the most progress are on
Cities and Megacities, Hazards, and Health. Two new initiatives are
being considered - one on GeoData and one on Geosciences in Africa.
Other items of common interest to the GeoUnions include ICSU requests
for action such as a change in their Statute on Universality, review of
the Panel Assessment on Scientific Data and Information, nominations for
the Joint WMO/ICSU Planning Committee for the International Polar Year,
and the proposed agenda for the 2005 ICSU General Assembly. We also
discussed the progress on the IUGS/UNESCO initiative for the
International Year of Planet Earth (all of the GeoUnions are full
partners in this initiative), and a request from the International
Commission on Acoustics for ICSU membership.
The next meeting of the GeoUnions will take place on 16 October 2005 in
Shanghai, China, preceding the ICSU General Assembly.
3. Corrections and updates to the IUGG Yearbook now due
Corrections and updates to the information contained in the IUGG
Yearbook are now being finalized in preparation for the 2005 Yearbook.
Please contact the IUGG Secretariat as soon as possible or by November
28 (secretariat@iugg.org) with additions and corrections.
4. IGY+50 Developments
The initiative on the electronic Geophysical Year (eGY) has now
developed a web site at http://www.egy.org . Planning meetings for eGY
were held during the COSPAR meeting in Paris in July, and following the
IUGG Executive Committee meeting in Boulder in September. eGY received a
letter of support from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme,
and it is included in the draft text of the science plan for the
International Polar Year. In addition, the International Heliophysical
Year (IHY) is actively collaborating with the eGY planning team. (For
more information on the IHY, please consult their recently enhanced web
site http://ihy.gsfc.nasa.gov and also a recent article by N.U. Crooker
in EOS, Vol. 85 #37, 14 September 2004, pages 351 and 353.)
5. UN International Year of Physics 2005
Endorsed by the international physics community and the 2003 UNESCO
General Conference, 2005 was declared International Year of Physics
(IYP) by the 58th General Assembly of the United Nations. The Year will
be launched at the Conference "Physics for Tomorrow" at UNESCO
Headquarters in Paris, France, 13-15 January 2005. The Conference will
be open to the general public and will aim to capture the attention of
the international press and media, so that events and celebrations
organized around the world throughout the year will attract public and
media attention. The conference will highlight an opening ceremony,
public lectures and round-table discussions by Nobel Laureates and other
renowned scientists. The opening ceremony will feature representatives
of UNESCO, other UN agencies, and the European Commission, Heads of
States, UNESCO Permanent Delegates, government ministers and science
academicians. The public lectures and round-table discussions will
focus on the role of physics in society and its impact on everyday life,
the influence of Einstein on the science of the 20th and 21st centuries,
the teaching of physics, and its links with other disciplines. The
participation of 500 students (ages 16-18) will be invited from physics
Olympiad teams from different countries. For more information see the
Web site: http://www.wyp2005.org/unesco
6. IUGG-related meetings occurring during October - December 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.
September 27 - October 1 IAHS, Berchtsgaden, Germany, International
Conference on Hydrology of Mountain Environments
September 29 - October 1 IAGA, Roquetes, Spain, Workshop on Challenges
for Geomagnetism, Aeronomy and Seismology in the XXI Century
October 11 - 14 IAPSO/SCOR, Victoria, Canada, Symposium on Ocean Mixing
October 13 - 25 IAGA, Hyderabad, India, 17th Electro Magnetic Induction
Workshop
October 13 - 16 SOLAS, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Surface Ocean - Lower
Atmosphere Study Science
October 17 - 24 EGU, On board the Mediterranean Shipping Cruises vessel
"Opera," the Mediterranean, Catching Storms in the Mediterranean
October 18 - 21 IAHS, Yichang, China, Ninth International Symposium on
River Sedimentation
October 18 - 21 IASPEI/ASC, Yerevan, Armenia, 5th General Assembly of the
Asian Seismological Commission
October 25 - November 5 ICTP, Miramare - Trieste, Italy, 7th Workshop on
3-D Modeling of Seismic Waves Generation, Propagation and their Inversion
November 2 - 4 IAHS, Windhoek, Namibia, 5th WATERnet/ WARFSA Symposium,
IWRM and the Millennium Development Goals: Managing Water for Peace and
Prosperity
November 7 - 10 IAG, Berlin, Germany, 19th CODATA International Conference
November 8 - 11 IAPSO/GOOS/SCOR, Cape Town, South Africa, International
Workshop on Forecasting and Data Assimilation for the Benguela Current
and Comparable Systems
November 9 - 17 IAGA, Kakioka and Tsukuba, Japan, XIth IAGA Workshop on
Geomagnetic Observatory Instruments, Data Acquisition, and Processing
November 14 - 19 IAVCEI, Pucon, Chile, General Assembly: "Volcanism and
its Impact on Society"
November 15 - 20 SCOPE, New Delhi, India, 12th General Assembly
November 19 - 23 IAHS, Laghouat, Algeria, L'eau et le risque dans le
contexte saharien
December 2 - 4 IUGG GeoRisk Commission, Hyderabad, India, Conference on
Geophysical Risk and Sustainability
December 6 - 8 IAG, Sydney, Australia, The 2004 International Symposium on
GPS/GNSS (GNSS 2004)
December 6 - 9 Japan Water Forum, Tokyo, Japan, International Conference on
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)
December 6 - 10 WMO/IAMAS, Montreal, Canada, The 1st International Science
Symposium for THORPEX: A Global Atmospheric Research Programme
December 13 - 17 AGU, San Francisco, California, USA, Fall Meeting of the
American Geophysical Union
December 15 -18 IAHS, Hong Kong, China, 4th International Symposium on
Environmental Hydraulics -and- 14th Congress of Asia and Pacific
Division International Association of Hydraulic Engineering Research
End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 4 Number 10 (October 2004)
J. A. Joselyn, Secretary General [http://www.IUGG.org]
secretariat@iugg.org fax: 1 303 497 3645