MINUTES OF THE IAG - EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING AT THE XXII IAG/IUGG GENERAL ASSEMBLY, BIRMINGHAM, JULY, 1999.

 

 

Three meeting were held during the IUGG GA in Birmingham. For each meeting the agenda items treated as well as participants is listed below.

 

1. Meeting. Monday, July 19, 1999, 11.00-12.45.

Agenda Items treated: 2,3,4,5,6,8

Present were: K.P. Schwarz, (President), F.Sanso (1. Vice President), J.O.Dickey (2. Vice President), C.C.Tscherning (Secretary General), F.Brunner (President Section 1), R.Forsberg (President Section 3), P. Holota (President Section 4), M.Feissel (President Section 5), C.Boucher (President Commission X), P.Willis (Secretary Section 2), G.Beutler (President Commission XII), M.Sideris (secretary Section 3), B.Heck (Secretary section 4), C.Wilson (Secretary section 5), T.Tanaka (President Commission VII), W.Torge (Past president), I.I.Mueller (Honorary President), H.Moritz (Honorary President).

Note: Titles refer to old EC.

 

2. Meeting. Saturday, July 24, 9.00 - 16.00.

Agenda Items treated: 1,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19

Present were: G. Beutler, C. Boucher, F.-K. Brunner, M. Feissel, R. Forsberg, B. Heck, C. Jekeli, R. Rummel, F. Sansò, K.-P. Schwarz, M. Sideris, H. Sünkel, T. Tanaka, W. Torge, C.C. Tscherning, P. Willis.

 

3. Meeting. Monday, July 26, 1999, 19.00 - 20.30

Agenda Items treated: 20,21,22,23

Present were: Y.Yuanxi (Secretary sec 4), C. Boucher, M. Feissel, W. Torge, T. Tanaka, B. Heck, P. Holota, P. Willis, R. Rummel, M. Sideris (President Sec 3), G. Beutler (First vice president), M. Vermeer (President of Commision), F. Brunner, C. C. Tscherning, K.-P. Schwarz, J. O. Dickey, F. Sanso (President), O. Andersen.

The new Executive Committee members (elected at the previous Council meeting) were invited to participate in this meeting. Note: Titles of new members of the  EC.

 

 

Minutes.

 

1. Adoption of the minutes of the EC meeting in Paris.

The minutes were adopted without change.

 

2. Birmingham Organisation.

The organisation and program of the General Assembly were presented by the Secretary General.

 

3. Proposals for new nominations.

The list of nominations, prepared by the Nomination Committee, was presented by the president of the Nomination Committee, W.Torge. The CVs of the nominated persons were made available for inspection at the IAG office. Further nominations may be submitted according to the by-laws.

 

4. Proposal for members of the audit committee.

The Bureau proposed the following persons: G.Harsson (Norway), J.Adam, (Hungary) and R.Wonnacott (South Africa).

 

5. Nomination of the members of the resolution committee.

The following persons were nominated for the Resolution Committee: F.Sanso', J.Dickey, A.Dodson and C.Merry.

 

6. New fellows.

The procedure for appointing fellows was discussed. Officers who end their term during the General Assembly are eligible. It was discussed whether presidents of sub-commissions should be elected fellows. G.Beutler also pointed out that members of Scientific Bodies of some services also were eligible. It was decided to ask the section presidents to give recommendations that would be discussed at the next session. Here the following Fellows were elected:

O. Balt. Andersen, (Denmark), D.Arabelos (Greece), L.Ballani (Germany), B.Benciolini (Italy), M.Bevis (USA), G.Blewitt (UK), J.Bosworth (USA), A.Cazenave (France), T.Clark (USA), J.Degnan (USA), V.Dehant (Belgium), H.Drewes (Germany), B.Ducarme (Belgium), W.Featherstone (Australia), W.Freeden (Germany), T.Herring (USA),K.-H. Ilk (Germany), P. de Jonge (The Netherlands), J.Johanssen (Sweden), P.Knudsen (Denmark), Z-X Li (PRC), J.Manning (Australia), N.Pavlis (USA), C.Rizos (Australia), C.Rocken (USA), I.Tziavos (Greece), M.Vermeer (Finland), M.Wei (Canada), D.Wolf (Germany), S.Zerbini (Italy).

 

7. Venue of IAG Scientific Assembly 2001.

Applications had been received from Budapest (Hungary), Copenhagen (Denmark), Sopron (Hungary), Warsaw (Poland). After presentation of each venue by the country representatives and a comparison of the different venues, Budapest was selected.

The contact between the Executive Committee and the Local Organizing Committee to be finally decided Monday 26th.

 

8. IAG representatives to external bodies

BGI Directing Board: Dr. M.Vermeer (Finland), President of the Gravity /Geoid Commission.

IAPSO Commission on Mean Sea Level and Tides: M.Bevis to be contacted.

IAU Working Group on Astronomical Standards (WGAS): E. Groten (Germany), continuing.

IAU ICRS Working Group: T. Herring (USA), continuing.

ICET Directing Board: Dr. S.Takemoto, (Japan), President Earth Tide Commission.

ICL: S.Zerbini, (Italy)..

IERS Directing Board: C. Reigber (Germany), continuing, or his nominee.

IGS Governing Board: G. Beutler (CH), (ex-officio), T. Herring (USA), IAG Representative. ISO TC 211: J.Ihde (Germany), continuing.

IUGG Inter-Association Committee for Mathematical Geophysics: M. Vermeer (Finland), continuing.

IUSM Executive Board: I.I. Mueller (USA) K.-P. Schwarz (Canada), continuing to next meeting. New representatives will be nominated if there is a need after the next meeting.

PAIGH (PanAmerican Institute for Geography and History): W. Torge (Germany), continuing.

SIRGAS: H. Drewes (Germany), continuing.

WMO/IUGG Working Group on data exchange for forecast of natural disasters. S.Zerbini.

SCAR WG-GGI.: R.Dietrich (Germany).

The procedure for further elections were discussed, and it was proposed that in several cases the sections could make the appointment. It was decided to ask the representatives for bi-annual reports. The Bureau will review the reports. The Bureau may prepare a few questions to be answered in the report.

 

9. Adoption of new SSG.

It was decided that all special study group and special commissions should deliver complete description and member-list to the section presidents by the end of September. Section presidents should then compile and forward the complete list to the Central Bureau for inclusion on the IAG web page.

EC members will be asked to comment on the descriptions before the end of October. Adoption of the descriptions of the SSG's (and SC) would then be carried out via e-mail vote. Subsequently discussion can be held at the EC meeting in November. The President stressed that the special study groups should be international in membership and focussed in their research. If possible the research objectives should be agreed upon by the SSG membership.

The following SSG were then established and the president appointed:

Section I: Positioning

SSG 1.179: Wide area modelling for precise satellite positioning - S. Han (Australia)

SSG 1.180: GPS as an atmospheric remotesensing tool - H. Van der Marel (The Netherlands),

SSG 1.181: Regional permanent arrays - R.Weber (Austria),

SSG 1.182: Multipath mitigation - M.Steward (Australia)

Section II: Advanced Space Technology

SSG2.162: Precise orbits using multiple space techniques - R. Scharroo (USA) to continue until decision is made at first EC meeting.

SSG 2.183: Spaceborne INSAR technology - R.Hanson (The Netherlands).

Section III: Determination of the gravity field

SSG 3.167: Regional land and marine gravity field modelling. - I.Tziavos (Greece) Continuing.

SSG 3.177: Synthetic Modelling of the Earths gravity field - W. Featherstone (Australia), continuing.

SSG 3.178: Arctic Gravity Project ­ R. Forsberg, was to become a working group within the new IGGC.

SSG 3.184: Use of remote sensing techniques for validating heights and depths - P. Berry (UK)

SSG 3.185: Merging data from dedicated satellite missions with other gravimetric data- N. Sneeuw (Germany).

SSG 3.186: Altimetry data processing for gravity, geoid and sea surface topography determination - C. Hwang (Taiwan).

Section IV: General theory and methodology

SSG 4.187: Wavelets in Geodesy and geodynamics- W. Keller (Germany)

SSG 4.188: Mass density from integrated inverse gravity modelling - G. Strykowski (Denmark)

SSG 4.189: Dynamic theories of deformation and gravity field - D. Wolf (Germany)

SSG 4.190: Non-probabilistic assessment in geodetic data analysis - H. Kutterer (Germany)

SSG 4.191: Theory of Fundamental Height Systems - C.Jekeli (USA).

Section V: Geodynamics

IAG/IAPSO working group: Geodetic effects of non-tidal oceanic processes - R. Gross (USA)

SC8 should establish contacts with an IAPSO commission on Geodetic fixing of tide gauges. Mike Bevis will be contacted on this.

K.P.Schwarz and J.Dickey expressed concerns about the overwhelming number of SSG Chairpersons from Europe.

 

10. New IAG Structure - program / procedure of work.

The resolution on the restructuring process was adopted with one modification.

The following members were proposed for the steering committee:

G. Balmino (France), G. Beutler (Switzerland), F.K. Brunner (Austria), J.O. Dickey (USA), M. Feissel (France), R. Forsberg (Denmark), R. Rummel (Germany), K.-P. Schwarz (Canada), and ex-officio, F.Sanso'. G.Beutler was proposed as chairperson of the Steering Committee.

The steering committee is responsible for contacting a large group of experts and users and to develop a proposal by the end of 2000.

The proposal must be adopted at an extraordinary council meeting at the Scientific Assembly in 2001 and implemented at the General Assembly in 2003.

 

11. Sponsorship of Symposia.

Sponsorship of the following meetings were given:

XIII International Course on Engineering Surveying - Munich (Germany) - March 13-17, 2000.

International Workshop on "Perspectives of Geodesy in South-East Europe" - Dubrovnik (Croatia) - May 2-6, 2000.

International Congress on Geodesy and Cartography - Caracas (Venezuela) - December 2000.

 

12. JofG Editorial Board proposal.

The proposal from the Editor-in-Chief was adopted:

Editor-in-Chief: P.J. G. Teunissen (The Netherlands), Assistant Editor-in-Chief: F.H.Schroeder (The Netherlands), IAG Information Editor: O.B.Andersen (Denmark), Book-review editor: C.C.J.M.Tiberius (The Netherlands).

Editors: R.Barzaghi (Italy), C.Brunini (Argentine), F.K.Brunner (Austria), A.Dodson (UK), W.E.Featherstone (Australia), W.Fredeen (Germany), T.A.Herring (USA), P.Holota (Czech rep.), H.T.Hsu (PRC), K.H.Ilk (Germany), A.Kleusberg (Germany), R.B.Langley (Canada), S.Okubo (Japan), B.Schaffrin (USA), I.N.Tziavos (Greece), M.Vermeer (Finland), P.Willis (France), P.Xu (Japan).

 

13. IAG Budget.

K.-P.Schwarz proposed that not more than the equivalent of half of the quadrennial IUGG contribution is kept as a bank reserve. As a consequence of this the following budget was approved: (Amounts in USD).

<TBODY>

Receipts

 

 

Expenditures

 

15

IUGG Allocation

100000

11

Administration

50000

2

UNESCO grants

0

12

Publications

12000

3

OTHER grants

0

13

Assemblies

60000

4

Contracts

0

14

Symposia & meetings

30000

5

Sales of publications

12000

16

Grants

25000

6

Miscellaneous

35000

18

Miscellaneous

6000

7

Total receipts

147000

19

Total Expenditures

183000

8

Banks (Jan. 1, 1999)

94000

20

Banks (Dec. 31, 2003)

58000</TBODY>

 

 

 

14. IAG Fund.

The fund will be included in the IAG accounts following the advice of the Audit Committee.

The new Assistant Secretary General (K.Keller (Denmark)), will make a special effort to raise more money, contacting fellows, associates, institutions and private companies.

 

15. Proposal for Joint IUGG/BIPM Commmittee on a CTRS.

C. Boucher presented the proposal received via IUGG from BIPM.

C. Boucher, G. Beutler (rep IAG), and a IUGG representative to IERS (C. Reigber or his successor) were appointed as members of a committee to propose procedures for the adoption of an ITRF within IAG/IUGG and its dissemination to other agencies. The name of the committee should be decided by the committee themselves.

 

16.  Journal Artificial Satellites.

CSTG recommended that the Polish Journal Artificial Satellites is not made the official journal of an IAG body. The EC agreed with the arguments given in their letter.

K.-P. Schwarz and C.C. Tscherning will send a letter to the Polish Space Research Centre explaining the IAG position.

 

17. Rules for IAG Young Author Award.

The rules proposed by the President were adopted. The revised rules are available from the IAG home page

 

18. Proposals for new IAG Services: ILRS, IVS, DORIS, EOSS.

The proposal for ILRS and IVS were adopted. CSTG was thanked for their work with these proposals.

A more developed proposal will be expected from DORIS. The EOSS proposal was not acceptable since it was a regional and not an international service proposed. The group is invited to work inside IAG (Comm. X and SC 8).

 

19. Rules for Bomford Prize.

The proposal by K.P.Schwarz was accepted. The revised rules are available from the IAG home page

 

20. Status of Handbook and Travaux.

O.Andersen reported on the preparations of the Travaux and the Handbook. 80% of the material has been received or promised before mid August for the Travaux. The remaining 20% will not come. 50% of the representatives of IAG to other bodies have responded.

Publication is foreseen on a CD in late September. The Travaux will also be available on the web. With the CD an order list for the Travaux as a book will be distributed.

The Handbook has a final deadline after the next EC meeting (finalising SSG descriptions). This will result in a publication in February of 2000. Parts of the Handbook will be available on the web as soon as the material is ready.

 

21. Audit Committee report.

CCT presented the report that had been distributed. The outgoing president will write to the three members to thank them for their work.

The Central Bureau got a mandate to merge the IAG general account with the account for the IAG fund to limit costs and facilitate administration.

 

22. Resolution Committee Report.

FS presented the resolutions. The resolutions were adopted after revision for presentation at the Council.

 

23. Miscellaneous.

 A. Birmingham proceedings.

At present there are nearly 90 pre-orders in hand. Springer has required a minimum of 150 pre-orders in order to publish the proceedings. It was decided to publish proceeding with the number of pre-orders we are getting even though this might result in a 3000$ expense for IAG. It was mentioned that we might be saving a corresponding amount on the Travaux. The President proposed that e-mails are written to all IAG participants at the IUGG shortly after the meeting to ask once more for pre-orders.

 B. Earth Science Focus on Urban Issues.

During the last four years the IUGG has drawn attention to what earth sciences can do to urban regions in the future. Its was discussed in which manner IAG can contribute to solving urban problems. The issued was postponed to the next EC meeting.

C. Advertising IAG

W. Torge strongly recommended that the next EC take up the issue of advertising the IAG in the next 4-year period.

 

 

Minutes of the EC meeting in Nice, 28-29th April, 2000, held in connection with the EGS XXV general assembly.

 

The following were present.
F. Sanso                                           President
G. Beutler                                         First Vice President.
D. Blitzkow                                      Second Vice President
C. C. Tscherning                              Secretary General
O. Andersen                                   Ass. Sec. General
K. Keller Ass.                                 Sec. General
C. Rizos                                            Secretary Sec 1.
C. K. Shum                                      President Sec 2.
M. Sideris                                        President Sec 3.
G. Boedecker                                   Secretary Sec 3.
B. Heck                                            President Sec 4.
C. Wilson                                        President Sec 5.
V. Dehant.                                       Secretary Sec 5.
H. Drewes                                        President Comm VIII.
C. Boucher                                      President Comm X
M. Vermeer.                                     President Comm XIII
S. Zerbini                                         President Comm XIV.
I. Mueller                                         Past President
K. P. Schwarz                                  Past President

 

1. Approval of agenda
F. Sanso presented the agenda containing several additions, and this was approved.

 

2. Adoption of minutes of Como EC meeting
The Minutes of the EC meeting on 28-29th November, 1999, in Como, Italy, had been distributed by e-mail and were published as part of the IAG newsletter in JoG 74/02. They were adopted by the EC without corrections.

 

3. Proposal for an IAG retiree association.
I. Mueller had distributed a proposal for establishing an association of IAG retiree/seniors/past officers as a forum to contribute expertise of value to IAG. The association would be open to all IAG fellows and associates, and have meetings at Scientific Assemblies and an electronic newsletter. The EC agreed on the general idea of having such an association, and awaits the formal proposal from I. Mueller at the SA in Budapest.

 

4. IAG Scientific Assembly in Budapest 2001.
I. Mueller presented the status of the preparation of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the SA in Budapest (3-7 Sept 2001). The preparations are under control and the LOC has established a web page for communication. The Academy of Sciences, where the SA will be held, has 11 meeting rooms of various sizes (max 320 persons). The LOC requests that IAG specify requirements with respect to rooms and sizes at least 3-5 weeks before the SA. Details on the scientific program are given under item 8.

 

5. Feedback on Travaux/Handbook and IAG newsletter.
O. Andersen informed that the Travaux was distributed on CD and is also available from the Central Bureau (CB) as a book. The Geodesist's Handbook is published, but only a few members of the EC had received it so far. O. Andersen reported that Springer takes up to 2-3 month in printing issues, and also sometimes merges issues which delays publication of the IAG newsletter. This is problematic, and EC stressed that it should be avoided in the future. The IAG Secretary will contact the Editor-in-chief on this issue.
Possible distribution of an electronic quarter-annual newsletter via e-mail was considered.

 

6. Collaboration with ION. (Institute of Navigation).
The president of ION has approached IAG for coorporation on a GPS book jointly written by authors from IAG and ION. The EC decided to ask F. Sanso to contact R. Neilan, P.Willis, G. Hein or W. Gurtner to establish liaison and to define a fruitful coorporation with ION, based on areas where IAG has strength

 

7. Report from the review committee (herinafter RC)
G. Beutler presented the report of the IAG review committee (RC) and went through the Executive summary available at ftp://ubecx.unibe.ch/aiub/iag Only part 5(IAG mission and objectives) and part 6 (IAG structure) were subsequently discussed in detail. Once the comments made below have been given to the RC they have the mandate to create the proposal that should be presented to the EC in March 2001 and subsequent to council at the SA in 2001.

 

IAG mission and objectives.
A revision of the suggested IAG mission and objectives was carried out, and it was recommended that two more points should be added: a preamble on the usefulness of geodesy for society and another bullet on emerging technologies.

IAG structure.
It was decided by vote that the IAG structure should have commissions, services, and a communication/outreach branch and a few projects represented on the same level. Projects on this top level will be established by the EC. GIGGOS may be one of them, but has not been selected at this point in time.
There was agreement on establishing a communication and outreach branch, and that a call for participation should be drafted. It was recommended by the EC that the review committee consider the flexibility within the IAG structure and allows for establishment of inter-commission/service bodies (i.e., for geodetic theory or techniques, which presently resides within commissions)

Structure of the IAG Central bureau, IAG bureau, EC and Council. G. Beutler pointed out that the commission names were not fixed by the proposal, and that he would appreciate input from EC members on this.

It was strongly stressed that there should be no appointed members in the EC. Services, commissions and members can nominate members, which will subsequently be elected by the Council.
The importance of the Council was stressed. A suggestion for improved communication between the EC and the Council would be to initiate informative meetings at the SA.

Individual Membership and Nominations/Voting.
K. P. Schwarz introduced possible scenarios for IAG personal membership based on the IAVCEI model. It was clarified that the issue of personal membership is not necessarily linked to the review process, but that it would be advantageous to introduce it at the same time if the EC agrees to go this route. In the IAVCEI model, personal members have benefits (i.e. discounts on participation in General Assemblies and journal subscription, voting rights). The EC gave its approval in principle to develop a proposal for personal membership that has different levels of membership fees (developing countries) and benefits. It also decided that voting rights should not be given to individual members. The proposal will have to be approved by the EC.

Finally the EC agreed to invite I. Mueller and J. Kauba to join the review committee for finalising the proposal for IAG restructuring.

 

8. Scientific program for the IAG Scientific Assembly (SA) in Budapest.
K. P. Schwarz had prepared and distributed a proposal for the scientific program for the SA in Budapest in 2001. Four symposia are proposed, two of them will run in parallel every day. Friday will be devoted to the IAG restructuring. The possibility of awarding a prize for the best student presentation using the IAG fund was discussed.
It was decided to publish all presented and poster papers whose mauscripts are available at the meeting on a CD without review. A selected number of representative papers will be reviewed for publication in the IAG/Springer symposia series. The registration fees will be increased to include the cost of producing the proceedings. The review process should be strict to be representative of the quality of science that IAG stands for. J. Adam will be asked to serve as editor of the proceedings. It was left to the convenors to accept/reject abstracts and carry out the review process. Besides the CD containing all abstracts and remaining un-reviewed papers, there will be an official IAG CD containing mid term reports of the bodies (especially the SSG) of the IAG.

 

9. Collaboration with sister societies (FIG, ISPRS, etc) after IUSM
It was stressed that the collaboration should be on the working level and as concrete as possible. Obvious collaboration should be co-sponsoring of each other?s symposia.

 

10. ISPRS has requested support for becoming a member of ICSU
The Bureau has issued a positive response to the ISPRS request for ICSU membership.

 

11. Report from the WG on Education
The report of the WG was presented by C. Tscherning. It was questioned whether there should be any “checking” of teaching material, and it was agreed that only the functionality of the links from the homepage to the proposed material will be checked. C. Tscherning was elected as president of the Committee on Education.

 

12. Report from the Committee for Developing Countries (CDC).
D. Blitzkow had found it difficult to make progress in the work. The goals of the former CDC had been reviewed, and a number of concrete activities were taking place in South America. Despite IAG had allocated USD 4000 to the CDC it was not at all sufficient to start any meaningful activity due to the large cost of air-travel within Africa.
A workshop will be organized in May 2000 in Sao Paulo on the South-American geoid cosponsored by the Int. Geoid Service (IgeS). G. Beutler referred to the position paper of J. Manning, which contained useful considerations concerning the developing countries. J.Manning had also pointed to the activities of the UN regional Cartographic Conferences. It was concluded that we have to start with local geodesists, and in this sense the schools were a good entry point.

 

13. Discussion of IAU recommendation.
E. Groten had informed the Bureau about the IAU request of having a reference value of the gravity potential for time-corrections. It was recommended to use the best current value.

 

14. Request from GALOS to Recognize Galo Carrera as an IAG Fellow
GALOS had requested that the work of Galo Carrera was recoginzed by IAG. The EC decided to award him the fellowship of IAG.

 

15. IAU request of IAG representative to IAU Commission 19.
Clark Wilson was proposed, and accepted.

 

16 IAG Sponsored meetings.
To be summarized from the IAG homepage. J. Manning has requested the IAG endorsement of a regional workshop in Mongolia. An IAG representative was requested. The meeting is recognized as a fine initiative, and J.Manning will be asked to represent IAG. A meeting on Recent Crustal Movements in Helsingfors in August has been organized, and could be in conflict with the Scientific Assembly. It was felt that the way in which the first announcement of this meeting used the IAG name was inappropriate.
This was conveyed to the organizers by M.Vermeer. S.Zerbini is advising the LOC with respect to the program. Com. XIV will sponsor the meeting.

 

17. IAG collaboration with EGS and AGU.
IAG SSG co-sponsorship is possible together with AGU/EGS at international meetings. This would be a way to achieved IAG goals. IAG SSG could be used as a bridge between AGU and EGS. IAG ought to be visible, by co-sponsering sessions etc. F. Sanso will contact AGU and EGS concerning collaboration.

 

18.Young author's award
F. Sanso refered to the letter of P. Teunissen, editor-in-chief of the JofG, which had been distributed in advance. Of the four candidates proposed. Dr. Xu. was unanimously chosen for his paper "Biases and the accuracy of, and an alternative to, discrete nonlinear filters", Published in JoG, Vol. 73, pp. 35-46, 1999.

 

19. Gravity field service.
A meeting will be held in Milan concerning unification of the three gravity services. BGI, IGS, IETC. NIMA might provide a new GDEM (SRTM (100-200m)) to improve global gravity. The EC encouraged this initiative.

 

20. Next meetings.
Next EC meeting: (EGS 2001 26-30 of March) 30-31/3 2001. Major items will be IAG restructuring, and SA planning.

Ole B. Andersen

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the EC meeting in Nice, 30-31th March, 2001. 

 

The following were present.

F. Sanso                                           President

G. Beutler                                         First Vice President.

D. Blitzkow                                      Second Vice President

C. C. Tscherning                              Secretary General

O. Andersen                                   Ass. Sec. General

A. Dodson                                      President Sec 1

C. K. Shum                                      President Sec 2

M. Sideris                                        President Sec 3

B. Heck                                            President Sec 4

C. Jekeli                                            Secretary Sec 4

Y. Yang                                            Secretary Sec 4

C. Wilson                                        President Sec 5

H. Drewes                                        President Comm. VIII

C. Boucher                                      President Comm X

S. Zerbini                                         President Comm XIV

K. P. Schwarz                                  Past President

J. Adam                                            LOC of IAG SA meeting in Budapest.

 

1. Approval of agenda

FS presented the agenda containing several additions, and this was approved.

 

2. Confirmation of adoption of minutes of the 2000 IAG meeting in Nice, France

The Minutes of the EC meeting in Nice, 28-29th April, 2000 were published as part of the IAG newsletter in JoG 74/06 and on the IAG web page. The Minutes were adopted by the EC with the following correction under item 7 (Report from the review committee, IAG structure): Inter-commission/service bodies reside within sections and not within commissions.  

 

3. Report from the Review Committee.

G. Beutler presented the IAG review 2000-2001 Executive Summary and went through the IAG Missions and Objectives. These were adopted with minor revisions.

The key elements of the IAG structure were presented. EC adopted the following titles for commissions with the provisional content specified in the proposal for new Statutes and By-laws.

Comm 1. Geometric reference frames

Comm 2. Gravity field

Comm 3. Earth Rotation and Geodynamics

Comm 4. Positioning and Applications.

The Bureau will distribute the adopted executive summary to the National Representatives within two weeks of the EC.

 

The review committee was thanked and the committee was dissolved. G. Beutler was asked to present the executive summary in Budapest.

It was decided that if the Council in Budapest passes the change of structure, a committee for the realization of the new IAG structure should be established. G. Beutler assisted by the section presidents should lead this committee. The committee should have the freedom to invite additional committee members.

 

A procedure for handling amendments to the Statutes and By-laws was established by the EC:

It was underlined that amendments should be send through the National representatives and should be send to the Secretary General before the end of June.

All amendments will be presented to the Council in Budapest. Amendments will be mailed to the EC prior to the Council meeting for possible support. The Amendments will be posted on the IAG internet site and distributed to the National Representatives before the Council meeting.

 

4. Proposal for new statutes and by-laws.

The Secretary General received the proposal for new statues and by-laws 6 months ahead of the Council meeting Budapest, which is why they can be considered at this meeting.

According to the new Statutes a review committee shall review the Statutes and Bylaws every eight years to ensure an up-to-date structure IAG. The first review shall take place in 2007.

 

The proposals for new Statutes and By-laws with the amendments made at the EC meeting were unanimously adopted by the EC for presentation to the Council in Budapest.  The Bureau will distribute the proposal to the National Representatives within two weeks of the EC.

 

IAG Guidelines for the Establishment of Sub-commissions, Study Groups, Commission Projects, Inter-commission Committees and IAG Projects were distributed for information at the EC meeting. It was decided that they should not be included to the By-laws.

 

C. Jekeli put forward a motion for a mechanism to change the status of the inter-commission committees. B. Heck supported the motion. The motion reads: “The EC may recommend to the council and seek its approval to grant full commission status to an inter-commission committee”. The motion was not adopted by the EC.

 

 

5. 20001 IAG Scientific Assembly in Budapest.

K.-P. Schwarz and J. Adam presented the status of the preparation for the IAG meeting. Presently 274 have pre-registrated representing 58 countries.

Advertising was discussed. IAG agreed to advertise GPS World and Galileo World at the meeting in Budapest by distributing free sample copies. O. Andersen was asked to contact Springer with respect to similar arrangement with the Journal of Geodesy. C.C. Tscherning should explore the possibilities of advertisement in EOS, and C. K. Shum agreed to announce the meeting at the upcoming spring AGU.

 

The meeting arrangement proceeds as planned and the second circular had been distributed. The list of symposium convenors and session chairs was distributed for information.

K.-P. Scwartz will establish a small committee to elect best poster and oral presentation among  young scientist.

Financial support has been obtained from ESA and NASA, and IAG will be able to support a substantial number of scientists.

 

 

6. Bi-annual report.

Bi-annual reports from all the entities within IAG will form an official IAG publication. This publication will be distributed on CD in Budapest and will published on the IAG Internet site. The section presidents are responsible for compiling the material within their sections. Status were:

Sec 1. All entities have been contacted and have responded positively

Sec 2. All entities have been contacted. Reports are already available on the Section web site.

Sec 3. All entities have been contacted. Most have responded positively

Sec 4. All entities have promised to send material at end of April.

Sec 5. All entities have been contacted and have responded. The section will report via the section website.

 

7. Collaboration with sister societies.

F. Sanso reported on a meeting with ISPRS, IUG, FIG, IHO, ICA and IAG at the ISPRS meeting in Amsterdam, July 2000.

A proposal for establishing a joint board of spatial information societies will be addressed at the next meeting with the societies, which will take place 2. Sept. 2001 in Budapest.

It was decided to discuss how the collaboration could be enlarged with other organizations/societies at the EC meeting in Budapest.

 

FIG has drafted a memorandum of understanding, which had been distributed prior to the meeting. The EC adopted the memorandum of understanding.

It was decided that F. Sanso should ask R. Neilan to become IAG representative to the Institute of Navigation (ION).

C. Boucher was asked to prepare a proposal for establishing a group to look into implementation of ITRF including communication between the involved organizations.

 

 

 

 

8. Report from the Committee for Developing Countries

D. Blitzkow presented the work of the CDC. A South American geoid workshop was successfully held in Sao Paolo in 2000 with participation from most South America countries. The committee’s work in South America is very successful.

Meeting was held with C. Merry (S. Africa) on establishing a working group on creating an African geoid.

Commission X and the IGS central Bureau suggested the establishment of an African continental reference system (AFREF). The “Interest and motivation for establishing AFREF” document was distributed prior to the meeting and presented by C. Boucher.

 

9. Report on the Journal of Geodesy.

P. Teunissen reported on the Journal of Geodesy. Printed and online versions are available. Volume 74 contains ten issues (two double issues) and the Geodesists Handbook and will be finished shortly. Volume 75 will be finished in 2001 and will contain three double issues).

Review process has been lowered from 10 to 9 month on average, but the production time has been increased from 4 to 5 month.

Special issues on “GLONASS” (guest editor P. Willis) and on “New parameters for Earth orientation” (guest editor T. Herring) are foreseen, and review papers are also planned. It was stressed that interaction with the section presidents is important in defining special issues.  

The IAG newsletter suffers from Springers production time. Springer has agreed that IAG can issue electronic news on a regular basis.

 

10. Gravity Field and Figure of the Earth Service. (GFFS)

M. Sideris presented a suggestion for establishment of a new IAG service “Gravity Field and Figure of the Earth Service (GFFS)” formed by joining the following services (BGI, ICET, IGeS) supplemented with the following centers/services (PSMSL, ICGEM (international center for global earth gravity models)). The EC agreed to set up a coordination group headed by M. Sideris to create/prepare the terms of reference for the service. The coordination group should prepare the material for establishment of the service at the Budapest meeting.

 

11. IAPSO Scientific Assembly (Mar de la Plata, Argentina, October 2001)

The EC approved to co-sponsor the IAPSO meeting in October and to have a joint IAG/IAPSO symposium called “Gravity, geodesy and the ocean circulation as inferred from altimetry”. 

 

12.  IUGG General Assembly in Sapporo 2003.

C. C. Tsherning asked for input on themes for the IUGG GA as well as names of union symposia for the IUGG GA by the end of July.

 

13. Next meeting.

The next EC meeting will be held in Budapest, Tuesday 4. September 2001. The subsequent meeting will be held 26-27th April, 2002 in association with the next EGS meeting. 

 

Ole B. Andersen

 

 

Minutes of the IAG-EC meeting in Nice 26. and 27. April 2002. 

 

The following were present.

F. Sanso President

G. Beutler First Vice President.

D. Blitzkow Second Vice President

C. C. Tscherning Secretary General

O. Andersen Ass. Sec. General

A. Dodson President Sec 1

C. K. Shum President Sec 2

G. Boedecker Secretary Sec 3

C. Wilson President Sec 5

V. Dehant Secretary Sec 5

H. Drewes President Comm. VIII

C. Boucher President Comm. X

S. Zerbini President Comm. XIV

K. P. Schwarz                                       Past President

P. Xu                                                             Rep. IAG intercommission committee on theory.

S. Takemoto                                                                     President Comm. V.

 

 

0. Memorandum

The IAG honoured the past president of IAG P. A. Leppan and past secretary general of IAG.

J. J. Levallois. Both passed away in 2001.

 

1. Approval of agenda

F. Sanso presented the agenda containing several additions, and this was approved.

 

2. Brief reports from each section (Section Presidents)

The section presidents of section 1,2,3 and 5 reported that the sections are working well.

The EC appointed C. Wilson to liaison with IERS in preparing a resolution on the celestial reference frame, which IAG can carry forward at the IUGG meeting in Sapporo. IERS should also be asked for a brief article for Journal of Geodesy on the celestial reference frame.

 

3. Report from the IAG planning committee.

G. Beutler presented the minutes from the planning committee meeting which had taken place the same morning. The minutes are available from http://www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag/newstructure/newstructure.htm

 

G. Beutler had received a proposal to set up an entity dealing with fundamental constants. The EC decided to establish a planning group, which should report at the IUGG2003 meeting in Sapporo. C. Wilson agreed to chair this planning group. G. Beutler and C. Wilson will make a letter to the head of the services with a request for nomination of a person to join the planning group. 

 
C. Tscherning reported on the establishment of an IAG outreach branch. The announcement had been widely distributed and published in the IAG newsletter. Until now only a few institutions had shown interest. K.-P. Schwarz stressed that the institutions should contribute with one full-time secretary. The EC decided that IAG must be active in finding a suitable place for the IAG outreach branch (C. Tscherning).

 

4. Report from the Planning Committee for the Intercommission Committee on Theory
Peiliang Xu presented the report of the Intercommission Committee on Theory. P. Xu stressed the importance of establishing joint working groups with the different IAG commissions in the future structure. 

 

5. Report from the planning committee on the IAG project

G. Beutler distributed and presented the status report from the planning committee on the IAG project IGGOS, which was prepared at the third meeting of the group on Thursday 26 April. The EC approved to appoint G. Beutler to chair the IGGOS planning group until the IUGG meeting in Sapporo with H. Drewes serving as secretary.

 

6. Comments received on the new Statutes and by-laws.

C. Tscherning reported on the comments received on the new statutes and by-laws from the National Committee of Poland. These are available on http://www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag/Compol.htm

The EC decided to adopt the editorial changes suggested by the national representative of Poland. The suggestion of omitting the word astrometric in the description of commission 1 in the by-laws that reads: “Theory and coordination of astrometric observation for reference frame purposes”, was not adopted. V. Dehant will contact the national representative of Poland.

Updated Statutes and By-laws are available at the IAG website. K.-P. Schwarz agreed to look into re-formulating the Statutes and By-laws on the subject of personal membership as this still causes some confusion.

 

7. Experience from the Budapest Scientific Assembly

K.-P. Schwarz presented the report from the Budapest Scientific Assembly which has been published as part of the IAG newsletter in the Journal of Geodesy. All comments have been very positive, and the EC thanked K.-P. Schwarz and the LOC for the great work done in association with the Budapest meeting. The reviewed proceeding is in press with Springer.

 

The EC discussed the publication of reviewed publications in association with the IUGG2003 meeting. It was decided to have reviewed proceedings and that the cost of the proceedings should be added to the registration fee. The EC decided to form an editorial board for this meeting. This will consist of 8 members: the convenors from each geodesy session, and F. Sanso. It was decided that this board should set up set up a clear set of rules for reviews and deadlines before the IUGG2003 meeting. The Joint Symposia chaired by the IAG will not be published as part of the IAG reviewed proceedings.

The EC appointed C. Tscherning to liaison with the LOC and to prepare the final program. Abstracts will be handled by IUGG, but C. Tscherning was appointed to assist in the assignment of abstract to the different IAG sessions in corporation with the session convenors.

O. Andersen was appointed editor by the EC for the 2003 version of the IAG Travaux and Geodesists Handbook.

 

8.  IUGG2003 - General Assembly in Sapporo 2003.

C. C. Tscherning reported on the preparation for the next IUGG meeting. IAG related meetings will be confined to 7 days (Wednesday, first week (July 2, 2003) to Thursday, second week (July 10,

2003). The EC will meet on Tuesday the first week (July 1, 2003). Each session has 1.5 days except for IGGOS which has two days. A preliminary time schedule was presented, see

http://www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag/iugg03time.htm .

 

9. Nominations of IAG and IUGG officers.

The nomination procedures for the IUGG and the IAG elections were presented by K-.P.Schwarz. A draft call for IAG nominations was discussed. The final call is available at http://www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag/callnom.htm.

It was considered important that a geodesist became a member of the new IUGG Bureau. The President and the Secretary General were asked to contact possible candidates. Proposals from the EC should be send to the Secretary General before June 1, 2003.

 

10. Resolution on permanent earth tides effects.

The issue was postponed to the next IAG meeting.

 

11.  Best paper award

Two of the three suggestions from the Editor in Chief of Journal of Geodesy P. Teunissen were send out for e-mail vote after the EC meeting to enable the members to read the papers. The winner of the award has subsequently been found, and is: S. Skone, Calgary.

 

12 Any other business.

K.-P. Schwarz mentioned that Springer will take over “GPS Solutions”.  IAG appointed C. Tscherning to keep in close contact with Springer to clarify how the best synergy with Journal of Geodesy could be obtained.

 

United Nations and GNSS will have a meeting in Zambia in July. IAG should be represented at the meeting especially with respect to the AFREF

 

The EC appointed  C.K. Shum, G. Beutler and A. Dodson to lead a planning group for an IAG project on GNSS.

 

K.-P. Schwarz pointed out that there is a potential problems with the new IAG By-laws, as they opens for re-election of Commission presidents. This was not possible for Section Presidents in the old IAG by-laws. The EC decided to clarify the text as to ensure that Commission presidents can not be re-elected.

 

 

13. Next meeting.

The next EC meeting will be held 10-11th April, 2003 in association with the joint EGS-AGU meeting in Nice, France.

 

Ole B. Andersen, IAG information editor

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the EC meeting in Nice, 11. April, 2003. 

 

The following were present.

F. Sanso President

G. Beutler First Vice President.

D. Blitzkow Second Vice President

K.-P. Schwarz Past President.

C. C. Tscherning Secretary General

O. Andersen Ass. Sec. General

A. Dodson President Sec 1

P. Willis Secretary Sec 2

M. Sideris President Sec 3

B. Heck President Sec 4

C. Wilson President Sec 5

V. Dehant Secretary Sec 5

S. Takemoto President Comm. V.

H. Drewes President Comm. VIII

C. Boucher President Comm. X

M. Vermeer. President Comm. XIII

S. Zerbini President Comm. XIV

 

J. Adam Hungarian rep. for COB

M. Poutanen Finnish rep. for COB

 

1. Approval of agenda

F. Sanso presented the agenda containing several additions, and this was approved.

 

2. Result of election

C. C. Tscherning presented the result of the election of new officers for the IAG Executive committee for 2003-2007.

The following members have been elected.

President: G. Beutler

Secretary General: C. C. Tscherning

Vice president: M. Sideris

President of commission 1. H. Drewes    

President of commission 2. C. Jekeli

President of commission 3. V. Dehant

President of commission 4. C. Rizos

Members at large: L. P. Fortes and C. Merry

Service representatives: R. Neilan, M. Rothacher, H. Schuh

President of the Outreach branch to be elected (se below).

 

 

3.  Report from the IAG Planning Committee

G. Beutler presented the work of the IAG planning committee (available from www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag/new_iag_feb_28_2003.pdf). The EC adopted the report and decided to place “Earth tides” within commission 3 as sub-commission 3.3.

A commission for satellite dynamics was suggested. The four commission presidents were asked to place this within the new structure before the IUGG meeting in Sapporo

The EC adopted the proposal to affiliate Commission 1 with COSPAR as a subcommission. The president of Commission 1 should contact COSPAR.

The EC agreed that the president of Section 3 and the president of the new Commission 2 should make recommendations to the EC concerning representation from the International Gravity Field Service (IGFS) in the new structure.

 

 

4.  Report from meeting with new officers

F.Sanso reported from the meeting with the new IAG officers. He pointed out that the current section presidents and the newly elected officers would have to finalize the "fine-structure" of the new IAG between now and Sapporo. A letter, to be drafted by

Gerhard Beutler, would be sent out to these colleagues in May to explain the work to be done.

 

5.  Communication and Outreach branch

J. Adam presented the offer from the Hungarian Academy of science.

M. Poutanen presented the offer from the Finnish Geodetic Institute.

The EC acknowledged both proposal with thanks, and elected the Hungarian Academy of science to host the IAG Communication and Outreach branch.

EC established a planning committee for establishing the outreach branch headed by M. Sideris.

 

6.  Membership fee.

The EC adopted a personal membership fee of USD 50 per year or USD 150 if paid for 4 years in advance.

Students and retired scientist can obtain free membership if accepting e-mail communication only.

 

7.  Report from planning Committee for the Intercommission Committee on Theory (ICCT) and appointment of president

B. Heck presented the report of the planning committee. The EC unanimously appointed Peiliang Xu as president of the ICCT and asked B. Heck to revitalize the planning committee for establishing the ICCT and appointment of vice-president before Sapporo.

The ICCT should nominate an IAG representative to the CGM committee on mathematical geophysics.

 

8.  Report from the planning committee on the IAG project IGGOS

G. Beutler presented the work by the IGGOS planning committee on the IAG project (available from www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag/iggos_prop_feb_28_2003.pdf). The EC expressed its thanks to the IAG planning committee. The IGGOS definition phase will last from 2003-2005 with approval of the official IGGOS at the IAG scientific assembly in 2005. The EC should elect a president for IGGOS before Sapporo. The planning committee should act as nomination committee and distribute the documents to the Council for adoption in Sapporo.

 

9.  Report from the planning committee on the Inter Commission Committee on Geodetic Standards and appointment of president

The EC voted in favor of continuing the planning committee on the Inter Commission Committee on Geodetic Standards. The EC stressed the interconnection with the members of the IGGOS definition phase group. 

 

10. Experiences with the New Statutes and By-laws.

K.-P. Schwarz  presented the first experience with the New Statutes and by-laws, which in general seem to work in practice. Suggestions to changes/specifications/clarifications of the Statutes and By-laws were subsequently brought forward. The EC decided to apply Roberts Rules if there is an election tie, and bring the decision to council. The EC expressed the thanks for the work carried out.

A new Cassinis committee will be established in Sapporo for possible changes to be implemented by 2008. M. Sideris raised the problems of placing umbrella organizations like IGFS.

 

11. Suggestion for task force for IAG on “Geodesy on the planets”

The EC appointed V. Dehant to establish an ad hoc group to investigate the possibility of preparing a proposal for IAG involvement on geodesy on the planets. The group should report back to the Bureau.

 

12.  Brief reports from each section (Section Presidents).

Section 1: A. Dodson reported that two of the SSG’s are very successful. Two SSG are not responding.

Section 2: H. Drewes reported on CSTG.

Section 3: M. Sideris reported that four of the five are extremely active and successful. BGI is not responding. 

Section 4: B. Heck reported that Special commission 1 is working very well. All SSG are working well, two extremely well.

Section 5: C. Wilson reported that all entities are working well.

 

13.  Report from the editor of Travaux

The IAG Travaux will be distributed on CD to all participants in Sapporo. The report from the IAG planning committee and available national reports will be distributed on the same CD. It is the responsibility of the section officers to compile the material of their respective sections by mid May 2003.

 

14.  Preparation of appointment of IAG Fellows

C.C. Tscherning seeks nominations by the section presidents from the sections entities. Final list will be presented at the next EC meeting in Sapporo

 

15.  IUGG2003 Sapporo

C. C. Tscherning presented the IAG part of the IUGG program for Sapporo. S. Takemoto presented the official and social arrangements. A total of 60.000 USD have been given out in travel grant supporting nearly 80 young scientists and scientist from developing countries.

Selected presentations will be screened and may be published as a special IAG symposium proceeding. Selected presentation from G07 (IGGOS) may be published as a special issue of the Journal of Geodesy. This will be discussed with Peter Teunissen.

 

16.  Bomford Prize.

The evaluation committee elected Ramon Hanssen as winner of the IAG 2003 Bomford Prize

 

17.  Young authors award for 2002.

The issue has been postponed to the next EC meeting in Sapporo.

 

18.  Levallois medal.

The EC elected George Veis of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece for the 2003 Levallois medal.

 

19.  IAG prepresentatives to various bodies.

The EC elected H. Schuh to succeed J. Cambell as IAG representative in the IVS directing board.

The EC decided to recommend IUGG to appoint H. Drewes as official IUGG representative in the UN Cartographic Office

 

20 DORIS Service.

H. Drewes informed the EC that there would be an application of DORIS to become an official IAG service. CSTG supports the proposal. The EC agreed that the application can be treated by the Bureau once that terms of reference have

been forward, and that the International DORIS Service (IDS) could start in Sapporo, under the condition that Terms of Reference are presented before Sapporo..

 

21.  IAU resolution on celestial reference frames.

The EC decided to bring forward and endorse the IAU resolutions on celestial reference frames to IUGG in Sapporo.

 

19. Next meeting.

The next EC meeting will be held in Sapporo on Tuesday 1 July from 8.30 –12.30

Ole B. Andersen, IAG assist. gen. secretary

 

 

Meeting report