Following the IAGA-IASPEI Joint Scientific Assembly held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2001, much of the Association's work in 2002 was devoted to preparations for the XXIII IUGG General Assembly, to be held in Sapporo, Japan in 2003. At the Hanoi Assembly, Herbert Kroehl (US) retired from the position of IAGA Secretary-General and Bengt Hultqvist (Sweden) was elected as his successor. The process of handing over the Secretary-General's responsibilities was carried out during the early months of 2002.

Preparations for the IUGG 2003 General Assembly

The IAGA scientific community is involved in the planning and preparations for the IAGA scientific programme at the Sapporo IUGG General Assembly. A total of 52 IAGA-led symposia are in the programme. IAGA will also contribute to a number of Inter-Association symposia.

Planning for the IAGA 2005 Scientific Assembly

The President and Secretary-General visited Toulouse to meet and to provide information and advice to members the Local Organising Committee. The facilities offered for the meeting, which will include the participation of the International Commission on the Middle Atmosphere, are excellent.

IAGA-sponsored workshops and meetings

In 2002 IAGA sponsored a number of scientific meetings within its fields of science. IAGA was the main sponsor of the following workshops and topical meetings:

- The 10th IAGA Workshop on Geomagnetic Observatory Instruments Data Acquisition and Processing, at Hermanus Geomagnetic Observatory, South Africa, on 15-24 April 2002

- The 16th Induction Workshop in Santa Fe, USA, on 16-22 June 2002

- Mesospheric Clouds, in Perth, Scotland, on 19-23 August 2002

IAGA also co-sponsored the 34th COSPAR Assembly in Houston, USA, on 10-19 October 2002.

IAGA will be the main sponsor of a workshop on 'Solar Forcing of the Middle Atmosphere' to be held in Prague on 15-18 September 2003.

Executive Committee meeting

The Executive Committee (EC) of IAGA met in Prague on 12-13 September 2002 at the invitation of Jan Lastovicka, Vice-President of IAGA. At this meeting the EC acted on a number of matters:

• EC member Professor Samuel Ogunade sadly, had died unexpectedly on 21 December 2001. Dr. B. R. Arora, leader of the Interdivisional Commission on Developing Countries, was appointed to take Professor Ogunade's place on the EC until the end of the 2003 IUGG General Assembly.
  
  
• The IAGA accounts for 1999, 2000 and 2001, which had been submitted to and accepted by IUGG, were noted.
  
  
• The IAGA budgets for 2002 and 2003 proposed by the Secretary-General were approved.
  
  
• Matters raised by the IAGA Financial Committee at the Hanoi Assembly in 2001 were considered and a response agreed.
  
  
• It was agreed to continue IAGA's financial support for EMSEV (the IAGA/IASPEI/IAVCEI sponsored Inter-Association Working Group on Electric and Magnetic Studies of Earthquakes and Volcanoes) into 2003.
  
  
• A report of plans for the IAGA Scientific Assembly in Toulouse in 2005 was received.
  
  
• The format and content of a new IAGA brochure were discussed and agreed, and funds were reserved for its publication.
  
  
• It was agreed that the IAGA Division Leaders should be encouraged to propose topics for new IAGA Guides.
  
  
• It was agreed to encourage nominations for the IAGA Long Service Medal, and the case for establishing a new IAGA medal was discussed.
  
  
• It was concluded, following consideration of a report from Division V concerning an initiative by the ISO organisation to nominate a standard magnetospheric model, that although IAGA should be involved in defining specifications for and in evaluating models, it would not be appropriate to endorse a specific model as a standard.
  
  
• It was agreed to re-launch the IAGA web site with address www.iugg.org/IAGA

Other activities

ICSU provided a grant of USD 12000 for the INTERMAGNET programme in 2002. This enabled INTERMAGNET to continue to promote modernisation of instrumentation and of practice in data collection and dissemination in the global magnetic observatory network, and to provide training to observatory workers from developing countries.

An application made through IAGA's Division V ( Chair, Vladimir Papitashvili) to ICSU to support a project 'Rescue of Old Analogue Magnetograms by Converting to Digital Images' was successful. A grant of USD 35000 was awarded for 2003.

Under its Inter-Association Initiatives scheme, IUGG provided funds for the project 'Detailed Study on the Active Tectonics of Afro-Arabian Rift Region using Palaeomagnetic and Potential Field Data and its Incorporation with Seismic Activity', led by Attia Abdelkader El-Sayed which had been supported by IAGA and IASPEI.

Bengt Hultqvist
IAGA Secretary-General