IUGG e-Journal, Volume 9 No. 1 (1 January 2009)

UNION GEODESIQUE ET GEOPHYSIQUE INTERNATIONALE
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEODESY AND GEOPHYSICS

The IUGG Electronic Journal
Volume 9 No. 1 (1 January 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

1.Happy New Year!
2.IUGG Yearbook for 2009.
3.Scientific meetings selected for IUGG support in 2009.
4.Report on the workshop "Deep Ocean Exchange with the Shelf".
5.Report on the World Stress Map Conference.
6.IUGG-related meetings occurring during January-March 2009.

1. Happy New Year!

The Year 2008 went down in history as a year of four International Programs: International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE), International Polar Year (IPY), Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), and International Heliophysical Year (IHY). The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and the Union Associations took active part in developing these Programs. Major events in the life of the Union in 2008 include the following: The Union Commission for Data and Information was set up to provide a focused and sustainable organizational structure that supports and strengthens IUGG science through integrated scientific information activities.
The IUGG Executive Committee Meeting was held in August in Karlsruhe.
Four major scientific projects were supported through the new IUGG Grants Programme.
IUGG strengthened further its relationship with ICSU GeoUnions via cooperation in programmes on natural hazards and health & well-being.
Greece rejoined IUGG as a regular member.
The IUGG Secretariat thanks the Union Associations and Commissions as well as individuals who helped making the year 2008 exciting and productive in strengthening international geophysical science for the benefit of society.

Best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy, and prosperous year 2009!

2. IUGG Yearbook for 2009

The 2009 Yearbook is now available at the IUGG website electronically in PDF format (http://www.iugg.org/publications/yearbooks/yearbook2009.pdf). The IUGG website maintains the directory of Union and Association officials and the archive of IUGG memberships and General Assemblies. Thanks to all of the National Committees and the Associations for helping to update the information in the IUGG Yearbook! During 2009, updates on addresses and other information in the Yearbook should be sent to the Secretariat (secretariat@iugg.org) as soon as they are known. Our goal is to update the Yearbook as needed throughout the year.

3. Scientific meetings selected for IUGG support in 2009

IUGG co-sponsors symposia and workshops appropriate to our disciplines of study. IUGG allocated US$20,000 to assist meetings in 2009 and especially to support the participation of young scientists and scientists from developing countries. Officers of the Union, Associations and Union Commissions propose meetings to receive these awards. For 2009, IUGG will support the following meetings: - Clouds and Turbulence Workshop, London, UK, 23-25 March.
- Spring School "Fluid Mechanics and Geophysics of Environmental Hazards", Singapore, 19 April-2 May.
- Symposium on Earthquake Seismology and Earthquake Predictability, Beijing, China, May.
- Workshop "Geodynamical Phenomena from Field, Observational, Computational, Seismological and Rheological Perspectives", Suzdal, Russia, August.
- Symposium "Geodesy in Latin America", Buenos Aires, Argentina, 31 August-4 September.
- Scientific School on GPS and GIS, Brazzaville, Congo, November.

4. Report on the Workshop "Deep Ocean Exchange with the Shelf"

The Workshop took place in Cape Town from 6 to 9 October 2008. About 45 scientists from 18 countries attended the workshop. As part of the outreach programme to Africa, young scientists attended from Benin, Ghana, Namibia, Senegal and Togo as well as from South Africa. The workshop programme was followed with one exception. The workshop was co-chaired by John Johnson, Johan Rodhe, and John Middleton; rapporteurs: Susan Allen and Dong Liang Yuan. The 16 invited lectures were well received and generated extensive discussions. It was agreed that the workshop papers should be published in Ocean Science, one of the EGU open access peer-reviewed journals. Six working groups worked in parallel; the smaller size of audience generated good discussions within each group, and five of the groups came up with definite and positive proposals for future research on different aspects of Deep Ocean Exchange with the Shelf. Sponsors for the workshop were IUGG, IAPSO, SCOR, ONR, and CSIR.

Received from John Johnson, co-chair of the Workshop

5. Report on the World Stress Map Conference

The third international World Stress Map (WSM) conference entitled Frontiers of Stress Research: Observation, Integration and Application took place from 15 to 17 October 2008 in Potsdam, Germany. The conference was jointly organized by the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and co-sponsored by IUGG and ILP. The conference was a great success. About 140 participants from over 30 countries presented research results in six topical sessions. Several invited speakers presented a current state of art in stress research, among them, Richard Plumb (Schlumberger, Cambridge), Mark Zoback (Stanford University), Onno Oncken (GFZ Potsdam), Herman Drewes (German Geodetic Research Institute, Munich), Nicholas Deichmann (ETH Zürich), and Richard Hillis (University of Adelaide). The first part of the Conference focused on stress and rock strength measurements ? techniques and results; stress modelling and interpretation at reservoir scale; strain measurement and interpretation. The second part of the Conference considered numerical modelling of contemporary stress and strain observations, seismotectonics and hazard, and stress field interpretation at regional scale. Three key issues for future research were identified: (1) Need of more stress observation data, either for local densification in order to study third-order stress sources on short spatial scales or temporal changes of the in-situ stress state. (2) Integration of stress information with other information such as deformation observations. (3) 3-D geomechanical models are needed in order to predict the stress state from the sparsely distributed stress information and to integrate other information (e.g. GPS, InSAR). The conference proceedings as well as information and data from the WSM project are available free of charge at the project website at: www.world-stress-map.org/conference.

Submitted by Oliver Heidbach, co-organizer of the Conference

6. IUGG-related meetings occurring during January - March 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.

- January 10-16, IASPEI, Cape Town, South Africa, IASPEI General Assembly.
- February 9-11, ICSU-ROA, Pretoria, South Africa, International workshop of experts on Global Environmental Change in sub-Saharan Africa. - February 23-26, IAHS, Port Elizabeth, South Af