The IUGG Electronic JournalVolume 7 No. 5 (May 11, 2007)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. About this issue of the IUGG Electronic Journal This May issue of the IUGG E-Journal follows 4 weeks from the 13 April issue. The June issue will appear on 1 June, but there will not be a July issue. Normal E-Journal issues should resume in August. These unusual issue dates are necessary to accommodate the events leading up and including the General Assembly. The "early" (reduced fee) registration deadline has been extended to May 20th. However, the situation with housing reservations is more complex, and regular accommodations are no longer available through the General Assembly website. There is now a dedicated website for IAVCEI field trips. Please find the link to this website either from the IASPEI home page ( www.iavcei.org ) or the General Assembly web site ( www.iugg2007perugia.it ). There are a number of additions and corrections to the list of Special Events at the General Assembly that was distributed last month. The corrections are shown below, but perhaps it is more important to note that the Scientific Programme and the list of Meetings and Events are both now posted on the General Assembly web site. Please refer to this information directly. Monday 2 July. The IAG Council of Delegates will be from 2 – 3:30 pm. The timing for the IAMAS Conference of Delegates on Tuesday 3 July and Tuesday 10 July will be from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The Launch of the eGY (electronic Geophysical Year) will occur at 5 pm on Saturday July 7. More information is given below. Monday July 9. The IASPEI Conference of Delegates will take place from 8:30 to 9:30 am. Friday July 13. The IASPEI Closing Plenary will take place from 3 – 4 pm. 3. eGY Kick Off on July 7 in Perugia The preliminary schedule for Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY) Kick Off has been announced. Starting at noon on Saturday July 7 in the University Cloisters, eGY Demonstration Projects and eGY-related posters will be set up. Participation is invited - please contact bill.peterson@lasp.colorado.edu for details. Simultaneously, in the theater adjacent to cloisters some of the IGY Movies that are now streaming from the eGY web site will be shown. Emily CoBabe-Ammann, eGY’s Education and Public Outreach Working Group Chair, has obtained permission from the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to convert films produced after IGY, using footage taken during the IGY field research in 1958-1959, into a format compatible with web distribution. These thirteen films were produced to compliment posters and a booklet published in 1958 by the NAS (available from the NAS archives). Each film focuses on one of the 13 research themes of IGY. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado has agreed to host these films on their website ( http://lasp.Colorado.edu/igy_nas/ ) The official eGY opening ceremony will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 PM in the University Rectory. Plan to attend. 4. Report from the GeoUnions Meeting A meeting of an informal consortium of 8 Unions belonging to the International Council of Science (ICSU) was hosted by the International Geographical Union (IGU) at Villa Celimontana in Rome on April 21 – 22. Unions represented included the International Astronomical Union (IAU), IGU, International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS, Chair of this meeting), IUGG, International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), and the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). Regrets were received from the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA). The attendees affirmed the benefits of collaboration, drafted Terms of Reference to solidify the basis for the consortium, and tentatively agreed to meet again on the occasion of the launch of the International Year of Planet Earth in Paris in February 2008. Those IUGG officers who attended the meeting included IUGG President Uri Shamir, Secretary General JoAnn Joselyn, and Bureau member Harsh Gupta. 5. Report from the ICSU Unions meeting Representatives from the 29 scientific Unions that are members of ICSU were hosted by the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) at a meeting in Rome on April 23 – 24. The theme of the meeting was "ICSU and its Unions working together to deliver the ICSU Strategy." ICSU President G. Mehta addressed the gathering, and the four sessions were chaired by the four Executive Board (EB) members from the Unions, including Uri Shamir, EB member from a cluster of Unions that includes many of the GeoUnions. The current status of implementation of the ICSU 2006-2012 Strategic Plan was reviewed by Khotso Mokhele, ICSU Vice President and Chair of the Committee for Science Programming and Review. Agenda items included ICSU as well as Union activities on the topics of human health; natural and man-made hazards; and information and data. Directors from each of the ICSU Regional Offices made presentations. The first Regional Office for Africa, located in Pretoria, South Africa, is in full operation and has established 4 science themes. The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, established in 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, has begun operations with hazards as their main scientific focus. The Regional Office in Latin America and the Caribbean has just been inaugurated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Efforts are underway to locate a 4th Regional Office in the Arab World. Planning is in progress for the 2008 ICSU General Assembly to be held in Maputo, Mozambique, 20 – 24 October. An outreach program to bring science to communities will precede the conference, and volunteers are needed to participate in events being planned throughout Mozambique. The International Lithosphere Programme will honor Dr. Alan S. Collins (Australia) with the Edward A. Flinn award at their Conference "New Frontiers in Integrated Solid Earth Sciences" to be held at GFZ Potsdam 12-13 June 2007. The Edward A. Flinn Award is presented to an outstanding young scientist for contributions in the solid earth sciences covered by the International Lithosphere Program. It consists of a travel grant and a citation, and aims to provide encouragement for the participation of promising young scientists in the Program. Candidates must be younger than 36 years old. Professor U. Aswathanarayana, Honorary Director, Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management, and Chair of the Indian eGY Committee, will receive AGU’s International Research Cooperation Award for 2007. The award will be presented at the AGU Spring Meeting/Joint Assembly in Acapulco, Mexico. Professor Aswathanarayana will present his award lecture on Tuesday May 22. 7. IUGG-related meetings occurring during May – July 2007 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. May 14 – 16 June 12 - 15 June 18 - 21 July 2 - 13 July 21 - 25 July 29 - August 6 July 30 - August 4 End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 7 Number 5 (11 May 2007) |
