The IUGG Electronic JournalVolume 3 No. 6 (June 1, 2003)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. Japanese Imperial Family will visit the IUGG General Assembly IUGG 2003 General Assembly will welcome the Japanese Emperor and Empress on July 2 to the Exhibit Hall in the Royton Hotel to observe activities of recent scientific research in the fields of geology and geophysics. They will also participate in the Welcome Ceremony to be held at the Sapporo Convention Center in the evening. 2. Update on special precautions regarding SARS. A special issue of the IUGG E-Journal sent on 9 May 2003 confirmed that Japan is free of the SARS virus. There has still not been a confirmed case of SARS infection in Japan. Visitors should not be concerned. In order to maintain this healthy state, certain precautions are being taken to insure that the SARS virus is not imported into Japan. The World Health Organization designates the areas that are at risk from SARS. The WHO website http://www.who.int/csr/sars/areas/ lists the affected regions; this information is being continually reassessed and updated daily. (This warning does not apply to passengers simply transiting through international airports in these areas.) The IUGG Local Organizing committee wishes to stress that visas are still being issued for persons from SARS infected regions, and admission to Japan will not be denied to persons from those regions unless they actually show SARS symptoms. For further information, please consult the bulletins posted on the IUGG General Assembly web site: http://www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstece/iugg.index.php. If any person in Japan is diagnosed with SARS, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare will pay the expenses to hospitalize that person. 3. IUGG Scientific Programme Abstracts now posted on the General Assembly Web site There is a Search function on the General Assembly web site that permits the details of each Symposium to be accessed. The address of the web site is given above, or it can be reached using a link provided on the IUGG home page: http://www.IUGG.org. 4. National Reports are posted on the IUGG Web page The IUGG Webmaster, Julie McKie, has set up a special page on our Web site with links to the quadrennial Reports from IUGG Member Countries. To date, we have posted the reports from Argentina and Croatia, and the reports from Russia are in the process of being added. Please view these reports and either print out copies as needed or request a printed copy (if available) directly from the individual National Committees. We encourage National Committees to send their reports or links to their reports to the IUGG Secretariat so that we may post them. 5. Awards and Honors Prof. David Gubbins, University of Leeds, U.K. and Chair of the Inter Associations Committee on the Study of Earth's Deep Interior (SEDI), was presented with the 2003 Gold Medal of the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, London, for his "distinguished career in geophysics, especially his fundamental work in dynamo theory, geomagnetism, inverse theory, and seismology, and his outstanding leadership within the geophysical community." Prof. Y. Kamide, Director of the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory of Nagoya University, Japan, and member of the IAGA Executive Committee, was presented with the 2003 Price medal for Geophysics by the Royal Astronomical Society, London, for his "inspiring leadership in the geophysics community and his outstanding contributions to the study of magnetospheric and ionospheric current systems during magnetospheric storms and substorms using magnetometer data." Prof. Uri Shamir, Vice president of IUGG and Director of the Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute of the Israel Institute of Technology, was awarded the 2003 Julian Hinds Award from the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was recognized "for pioneering research in water distribution analysis, groundwater modeling, and water resources planning; national & international leadership in water science and management, including Middle Eastern peace negotiations; and his intellectual generosity and encouragement of others." Prof. Susan Skone ,University of Calgary, Canada, was awarded the 2002 Young Author's Award by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) for her paper "The impact of magnetic storms on GPS receiver performance," published in the Journal of Geodesy, Vol. 75, no. 9-10, 2001. The award consists of a cash prize of $1000 (USD) and an IAG Award Certificate. Professor Klaus Wyrtki, University of Hawaii, USA, will be awarded the second Albert I Medal in Sapporo, Japan, by the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO). Prince Ranier of Monaco created the award, which is presented biannually, to acknowledge particularly distinguished scientists in the physical sciences of the oceans. Prof. Wyrtki is recognized for his pioneer research in the large-scale physical oceanography of the tropical ocean including exploration of the upper hydrospheric structure and current system of Indonesia and Southeast Asian waters; synthesis of the physical oceanography of the Indian Ocean; discovery of the Eastward Equatorial jet, or "Wyrtki jet" in the Indian Ocean; and, most importantly, his breakthrough research in the Pacific Ocean that has led to the understanding of the El Niño phenomenon. 6. IUGG-related meetings occurring during June - August 2003 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]. Specific information about these meetings can be found there. Individual Associations also list more meetings on their web sites appropriate to their disciplines.
End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 3 Number 6 (June 1, 2003) |
