THE IUGG ELECTRONIC JOURNAL Volume 9 No. 7 (1 July 2009)
UNION GEODESIQUE ET GEOPHYSIQUE INTERNATIONALE
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEODESY AND GEOPHYSICS
THE IUGG ELECTRONIC JOURNAL
Volume 9 No. 7 (1 July 2009)
This 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 (http://www.iugg.org/publications/ejournals/). Please forward this message to those who will benefit from the information. Your comments are welcome.
Contents
Welcome to Georgia, a new member of IUGG
Call for Invitations to Host the 2015 IUGG General Assembly
Report on the IYPE Meeting of Science Theme Leaders and African Chairs of National IYPE Committees
Report on the International Scientific Studies Conference
Honors and Awards
IAGA Scientific Assembly, Sopron, Hungary
IUGG-related meetings occurring during July - September 2009
1. Welcome to Georgia, a new member of IUGG
By vote by correspondence of the regular members of the IUGG, Georgia has been accepted as a new member of IUGG in Associate status. The Adhering Body is the Georgian Geophysical Association, the President of the National Committee is Prof. Tamaz Chelidze, and the Secretary General is Dr. Nino Tsereteli. We look forward to collaborations and new friendships.
2. Call for Invitations to Host the 2015 IUGG General Assembly
Invitations to host the 2015 General Assembly are now being accepted and must be received by 27 December 2010 (six month before the next General Assembly, consistent with IUGG By-Law 6). The Guidelines for proposals are posted on the IUGG website [http://www.iugg.org/assemblies/Guidelines_IUGG_GAs.pdf] or can be received directly from the IUGG Secretariat [secretariat@iugg.org]. All invitations will be evaluated by an impartial committee appointed for that purpose, and a report will be given to the IUGG Council before their final vote. The IUGG Council, at their 2011 meeting in Melbourne, will make the final selection from the invitations that are received.
3. Report on the IYPE Meeting of Science Theme Leaders and African Chairs of National IYPE Committees
The International Year of Planet Earth Meeting of Science Theme Leaders and African Chairs of National IYPE Committees was held in Pretoria (South Africa) on 18-19 May 2009. This meeting was organised by Sospeter Muhongo (Chair of the IYPE Science Programme Committee). Muhongo is also the Director of the ICSU Regional Office for Africa (ROA) so that the meeting, though ostensibly about IYPE issues, actually dealt with the ROA Science Plans as well. There are 10 Science Themes of the IYPE. Three Theme Leaders managed to attend: Tom Beer (Hazards Theme Leader), Frauke Kraas (Megacities Theme Leader), and John Dodson (Climate Theme Leader). In addition, the Health Theme was represented by Theo Davies, and the Groundwater Theme and Deep Earth Theme sent written reports. Most of the themes are on track to prepare IYPE ‘Legacy Volumes’ to be published by Springer later this year. The meeting started with the Science Theme presentations. There followed two general presentations: one on the first congress of Young Earth Scientists (YES2009) to be held in Beijing, 24-28 October 2009. The second general presentation was by Hassina Mouri, Secretary-General of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf). Five updates on ROA programmes were also presented. The updates on the ROA projects on natural hazards (most relevant to IUGG activity) were presented by G. Mulugeta (Uppsala University, Sweden) on Project HD01: Geo-hazards, and A Konare (University of Cocody, Cote d’Ivoire) on Project HD02: Hydro-meteorological hazards and disasters.
Received from Tom Beer, Leader of the IYPE Hazards Theme
4. Report on the International Scientific Studies Conference
The International Scientific Studies Conference, organized by the CTBTO (Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization), was held in Vienna (Austria) from 10 to 12 June. Several officers of IUGG and IASPEI attended the Conference: H. Gupta (IUGG Vice President), Alik Ismail-Zadeh (IUGG Secretary General), Z. Wu (IASPEI President), P. Suhadolc (IASPEI Secretary General), R. Engdahl (Past President of IASPEI), and K. Suyehiro (IUGG Finance Committee Member). The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (by a video message) and the Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs M. Spindelegger welcomed the participants of the Conference. Several panels were organized at the first day of the meeting: Atmospheric nuclear explosions (P. Suhadolc took part in the panel discussion), two panels on the underwater and underground nuclear explosions (K. Suyehiro as part of both panels), and some other panels. The second day was devoted to scientific keynote talks and poster presentations. D. Storchak (Director of the International Seismological Centre, affiliated to IASPEI) gave the key-note talk on the CTBTO contribution to the global earthquake data collection. Seismologist P. Richards (Columbia University, USA) talked on seismic monitoring for nuclear explosions. Other key-note talks were given on the topics of the CTBTO interest, e.g., hydroacoustics, data mining and data exploitation, infrasound technologies, atmospheric transport modeling. The topic of the last day was the dialogue for the future. The panel was comprised of five experts representing CTBTO (T. Toth, Executive Secretary), the Russian Academy of Sciences (E. Avrorin, expert in physics of nuclear explosions), U.S. National Academy of Sciences (R. Jeanloz, geophysicist), IUGG (H. Gupta, Vice President), and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (H. Haak, Director). IUGG officers met T. Toth, Executive Secretary of CTBTO, and O. Dahlman, Chair of the International Scientific Studies Program, and discussed the possibilities for future cooperation between IUGG and CTBTO. Two topics were considered: (i) a joint IUGG-CTBTO Research Grants Program and (ii) Union symposium at the XXV IUGG General Assembly in 2011.
5. Honors and Awards
The 2009 Prince Albert I Medal has been awarded to Harry Bryden (University of Southampton, UK) in recognition of his fundamental contributions to understanding the ocean's role in the global climate system. The Medal will be presented on 22 July at the IAMAS-IAPSO-IACS 2009 Joint Assembly in Montreal.
6. IAGA Scientific Assembly
The International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) invites the international research community to Sopron (Hungary), 23-30 August to attend the 11th Scientific Assembly of the Association (www.iaga2009sopron.hu). IAGA promotes and coordinates, on a global scale, studies of the electrical and magnetic properties of the Earth’s core, mantle and crust, of the middle and upper atmosphere, of the ionosphere and magnetosphere, and the Sun, the solar wind, the planets and interplanetary bodies. At the Sopron Assembly, there will be 56 symposia, covering the whole activity of IAGA: internal magnetic fields (18), aeronomic phenomena (8), magnetospheric phenomena (11), solar wind and interplanetary field (7), geomagnetic observatories (8), developing countries (2), history (2). About 600 oral presentations and approximately 600 posters are expected. During the six working days (24-29 August), working groups, divisions, and national delegates, as well as INTERMAGNET, SCOSTEP, and CAWSES will hold their meeting. After many years, there will be again an exhibition, presenting the discipline’s latest developments. Springer, on the occasion of the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE), will publish a so-called IAGA Special Sopron Book Series. The LOC, Hungary's IAGA scientists, the IUGG National Body, the hosting institute (Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, www.ggki.hu), the Patrons (President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Minister of Environment and Water, and Mayor of Sopron), as well as other enthusiastic people at various levels, will do their best to create ideal conditions in this unique place for this global geophysical forum, coloured with a rich cultural programme, including classical (Liszt, Haydn, etc.) and folk music (MUZSIKÁS) concerts.
Do not miss the scientific and cultural events!
Received from László Szarka, Chair of Local Organizing Committee
7. IUGG-related meetings occurring during July – September 2009
A calendar of meetings of interest to IUGG disciplines (especially those organized by IUGG Associations) is posted on the IUGG web site [www.IUGG.org/calendar]. Specific information about these meetings can be found there. Individual Associations also list more meetings on their web sites according to their disciplines.
- July 1-3, IAG/ISPRS, Vienna, Austria, 9th Conference on Optical 3-D Measurement Techniques.
- July 6-10, IAG, Rome, Italy, 7th Hotine-Marussi SymposiumWeb.
- July 8-11, IGBP, Corvallis, USA PAGES 3rd Open Science Meeting (Past Global Change).
- July 19-29, IAMAS/IAPSO/IACS, Montreal, Canada, iaMas-iapsO-iaCs-Assembly-2009 (MOCA-09). Web: http://iamas-iapso-iacs-2009-montreal.ca/ .
- August 2-15, IAU, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, XXVII General Assembly.
- August 11-15, AOGS, Singapore, Annual General Meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society.
- August 17-28, IASPEI, IAVCEI, ICTP, Trieste, Italy, Advanced Workshop on Evaluating, Monitoring and Communicating Volcanic and Seismic Hazards in East Africa.
- August 19-23, IUGG, IASPEI, SEDI, Suzdal, Russia, International Workshop “Geodynamical Phenomena”.
- August 23-30, IAGA, Sopron, Hungary, 11th Scientific Assembly; Web: http://www.iaga2009sopron.hu .
- August 24-28, SEG/EAGE/ULG, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 11th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society
- August 24-28, WCRP/IGBP/ICSU, Melbourne, Australia, Joint Conference of the Sixth International Scientific Conference on the Global Energy and Water Cycle and the Second Integrated Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (iLEAPS) Science Conference
- August 31 - September 4, IAG, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Scientific Assembly, Web: http://www.iag2009.com.ar/ .
- August 31 - September 4, WMO, Geneva, Switzerland, World Climate Conference (WCP-3).
- September 1-5, IAHS, Ohrid, Macedonia, WMHE2009, 11th International Symposium on Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering.
- September 6-12, IAHS, Hyderabad, India, 8th IAHS Scientific Assembly & 37th IAH CongressWeb: http://www.appliedhydrology.org/iahs/
- September 13-18, SAGA/SEG/EAGE, Swaziland, South Africa, 2009 South African Geophysical Association (SAGA) Biennial Technical Meeting and Exhibition.
- September 13-19, WMO, Jena, Germany, 8th International Carbon Dioxide Conference.
- September 21-24, IAHS, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2nd Intl Conf BIOHYDROLOGY 2009: A changing climate for biology and soil hydrology interactions
- September 23-26, IAHS, Plitvice Lakes, Croatia, Sustainability of the Karst Environment - Dinaric Karst and other Karst Regions
- September 27 - October 4, IAVCEI, Morelia, Michoacán, México, Monogenetic volcanism in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and elsewhere.
- September 28 – October 10, IASPEI, IUGG GeoRisk Commission, ICTP, Trieste, Italy, Advanced School on Non-linear Dynamics and Earthquake Prediction.
End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 9 Number 7 (1 July 2009)
A.T. Ismail-Zadeh, Secretary General [http://www.IUGG.org]
E-mail: Alik.Ismail-Zadeh@gpi.uka.de Fax: +49 721 71173.
Note: Contributions to IUGG E-Journal are welcome from members of the IUGG family. Please send your contributions to Alik Ismail-Zadeh by e-mail (insert in Subject line: contribution to E-Journal). The contributions will be reviewed and may be shortened by the Editor.
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Ms. Simone Oswald
IUGG Assistant Secretary General
IUGG Secretariat:
Geophysical Institute
University of Karlsruhe
Hertzstr. 16
76187 Karlsruhe, GERMANY
Phone: +49-721-6084494
Fax: +49-721-71173
E-mail: secretariat@iugg.org
Web: http://www.IUGG.org
