Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 12:41:27 -0700
From: Joann C Joselyn
The IUGG Electronic Journal
Volume 5 No. 2 (February 1, 2005)
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. Continuing news on the Indian Ocean disaster
2. New web address for the GeoRisk Commission
3. Additional meetings selected for IUGG support
4. December 2004 ICSU Newsletter on-line
5. IGY+50 Developments
6. Honors and Awards
7. IUGG-related meetings occurring during February - April 2005
1. Continuing news on the Indian Ocean Disaster
Dr. Tom Beer, IUGG Vice-President, attended the January 18-22 meeting of
the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR). He presented the
IUGG statement (IUGG E-Journal Special Issue of 11 January 2005 or
http://www.iugg.org/eres.html ) to the Special Plenary Session on the
Indian Ocean Disaster: risk reduction for a safer future, on Thursday
January 20. He also convened a meeting of the GeoUnions Hazards
Initiative and assisted Gordon McBean with a planning meeting for an
ICSU Hazards programme. Reports from both of these meetings are
forthcoming.
The Union of Geological Sciences has prepared a resolution on the recent
earthquake and tsunami disaster. Their statement can be found on the
following web site:
http://www.iugs.org/iugs/news/iugs_hazards_statement.htm . The
International Council of Science (ICSU) has also prepared a statement.
This statement was published in a January 2005 special issue of ICSU
Insight which can be found on their web site as indicated in news item 4
below, and which is also posted on their index page. The International
Geographical Union has prepared a resolution that will be posted soon on
their web site: http://www.igu-net.org .
A collected file of web links concerned with the Indian Ocean Tsunami
will soon be posted by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
(Vienna) at the Web Site for Space Technology and Disaster Management.
The address is http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/SAP/stdm .
2. New web address for the GeoRisk Commission
The IUGG Union Commission on Geophysical Risk and Sustainability
(GeoRisk) has a new web-address: http://www.iugg-georisk.org
The web-page is also updated and slightly restructured:
- several links to "hazards" sites are added in the section "Disciplines";
- links to the NGDC interactive maps of hazards is inserted to the main
panel;
- the 2004 Hyderabad business meeting report is now located at the
section "Newsletters and Reports".
Dr. Alik Ismail-Zadeh wishes to thank web master Dima Krupsky for his
work to make this transformation happen quickly.
3. Additional meetings selected for IUGG support
IUGG co-sponsors symposia and meetings appropriate to our disciplines of
study. $20,000 (USD) is allocated annually to assist meetings, and
especially to support the participation of young scientists and
scientists from developing countries. Support for four meetings was
announced in the December 2004 IUGG E-Journal. Allocations have now
been made for 2 more meetings as shown below. All funds available are
now spent.
International Tsunami Symposium 2005, June 27-29, 2005, Crete, Greece
HeadWater 2005: 6th International Conference on Hydrology, Ecology, and
Water Resources in Headwaters, June 20-23, 2005, Bergen, Norway
4. December 2004 ICSU Newsletter on-line
The December 2004 issue of ICSU Insight is now available through the
ICSU website : www.icsu.org. Upon opening the website, click on the tab
labeled Media Centre; then click on Resource Centre. You will then be
able to either print the newsletter or read it in your browser.
5. IGY+50 Developments
eGY (Electronic Geophysical Year)
Daniel Baker, Chair of the eGY Task Force, announced the appointment of
an eGY Secretary -Dr. Bill Peterson. Bill has a background in space
plasma physics and is based at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space
Physics (LASP) in Boulder, Colorado USA. He can be reached at
Bill.Peterson@lasp.colorado.edu; Office tel: +1-303-492 0686;
Facsimile: +1-303-492 6444. His role is that of coordinator and
Secretary General - handling correspondence, finance, and supervising
the execution of eGY business.
The recent tsunami and earthquake disaster has illuminated the need for
better information and information delivery systems for natural hazards.
In particular, a partnership agreement between eGY and the IUGS-UNESCO
initiative on the International Year of Planet Earth will be signed
soon. IUGG is a full partner of this initiative and Dr. Tom Beer is
spearheading the special theme on Hazards. Brochures on the Hazards
theme, as well as other of the themes, are available to be downloaded
from http://www.esfs.org.
A Union session (U08) titled eGY: e-Science for Geoscience will be held
at the 23-27 May 2005 AGU/SEG/AAS-SPD-NABS Joint Assembly in New
Orleans, Louisiana USA. Session convenors are Dan Baker, Charlie
Barton, and Brian Spies.
The latest information about eGY activities can be found in the January
2005 issue of eGY News (No. 4). It can be downloaded from
http://www.egy.org/ .
IHY (International Heliospherical Year)
The latest information about IHY activities can be found in the 28
January 2005 issue of the IHY Newsletter (Volume 4). Download this
newsletter from http://ihy.gsfc.nasa.gov/newsroom/newsroom.sthml .
Information includes an IHY Overview, and the sessions on IHY science
that will be held at the May 2005 New Orleans meeting as well as the IHY
science sessions that are being organized at the EGU meeting April 24-29
in Vienna, Austria, and at the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Asia Oceania
Geosciences Society (AOGS) in Singapore June 20-24.
IHY is now represented within the International Astronomical Union, and
is partnering with the United Nations and ESA in planning a joint
workshop on Basic Space Science at the United Arab Emirates University,
20-23 November 2005.
Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES)
CAWSES is supporting the New Orleans Joint Assembly Union session (U08),
eGY: e-Science for Geoscience, and will convene several sessions at the
AOGS (Singapore) meeting in June. Two workshops will be convened at the
International Symposium on Equatorial Aeronomy, ISEA-11, Taipei, Taiwan,
ROC May 9-14, 2005.
6. Honors and Awards
Harsh Gupta (Department of Ocean Development, India, Bureau Member of
IUGG) received the 'National Mineral Award for Excellence - 2002' from
the Union Minister of Mines in a glittering presentation ceremony at New
Delhi on 17 December 2004. This lifetime achievement award - the fourth
awarded so far since its inception by the Government of India - was
conferred upon Dr. Gupta for his outstanding contributions in the fields
of seismology and ocean sciences.
David Gubbins (University of Leeds, UK, immediate past Chair of the
Union Commission on the Study of the Deep Interior of the Earth, SEDI),
received the 2004 John Adam Fleming Medal from the American Geophysical
Union at their Awards Ceremony in December 2004. The medal recognizes
original research and technical leadership in geomagnetism, atmospheric
electricity, aeronomy, space physics, and related sciences.
7. IUGG-related meetings occurring during February - April 2005
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.
January 31 - February 5 IAG, Budapest, Hungary, International IGeS Geoid School
February 7 - 11 SCOPE, New Delhi, India, SCOPE XIIth General Assembly
February 23 - 25 IAHS, Bonn, Germany, International Conference on
Integrated Assessment of Water Resources and Global Change: A
North-South Analysis
February 28 - March 6 IASPEI, Palmanova, Italy, IRIS-ORFEUS Workshop:
Understanding and Managing Information from Seismological Networks
March 1 - 5 IAG, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, International Workshop
on Deformation and Gravity Change: Indicators of Isostasy, Tectonics,
Volcanism and Climate Change
March 15 - 17 IAGA/EMSEV, Chofu, Tokyo, Japan, International Workshop on
Seismo Electromagnetics
March 17 - 19 IAG, Jaén, Spain, International Symposium on Geodetic
Deformation Monitoring: From Geophysical to Geodetic Roles
March 21 - 23 ISPRS, Delft, The Netherlands, The First International
Symposium on Geo-information for Disaster Management
April 1 - 9 IAVCEI, Sal Island, Cape Verde, Workshop on Ocean Island Volcanism
April 4 - 9 IAHS, Foz de Iguassu, Brazil, Scientific Assembly
April 11 -15 WCRP/CliC, Beijing, China, 1st CliC International Science
Conference: Cryosphere, the Frozen Frontier of Climate Science
April 24 - 29 EGU, Vienna, Austria, EGU General Assembly
End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 5 Number 2 (February 2005)
J. A. Joselyn, Secretary General [http://www.IUGG.org]
secretariat@iugg.org fax: 1 303 497 3645