The IUGG Electronic JournalVolume 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 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 www.iugg.org/eres.php) 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: 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: 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 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: www.iugg-georisk.org The web-page is also updated and slightly restructured:
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. eGY (Electronic Geophysical Year) 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 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 www.egy.org/. IHY (International Heliospherical Year) 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. 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, 2005 February 7 - February 11, 2005 February 23 - February 25, 2005
February 28 - March 6, 2005
March 1 - March 5, 2005
March 15 - March 17, 2005 March 17 - March 19, 2005 March 21 - March 23, 2005 April 1 - April 9, 2005 April 4 - April 9, 2005 April 11 - April 15, 2005 April 24 - April 29, 2005 End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 5 Number 2 (February 1, 2005) |
