The IUGG Electronic Journal

Volume 5 No. 5 (May 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. Meeting of the IUGG Finance Committee
2. New Address for Masaru Kono
3. IGY+50 Developments
4. In Memoriam
5. ICSU Regional Office for Africa
6. IUGG-Related Meetings Occurring during May - July 2005

1. Meeting of the IUGG Finance Committee

The Chair of the Finance Committee, Dr. Michael Hamlin, arranged for a meeting of the committee members in Vienna, Austria, on 30 April. Discussions included a review of IUGG expenditures, category allocations of IUGG members, and other issues regarding income including fundraising. A report will be prepared for presentation at the September IUGG Bureau and Executive Committee meetings in Perugia, Italy.

2. New Address for Masaru Kono

Dr. Masaru Kono, past-President of IUGG and member of the Executive Committee, retired from Okayama University in March. Congratulations!

His new address follows:

Masaru Kono
Professor emeritus, Okayama University
Professor emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Yayoi-cho 2-4-4, Nakano-ku
Tokyo 164-0013, Japan
Email: mkono@eskiyolcu.com
Tel and Fax : +81-3-3375-0525

3. IGY+50 Developments

International Polar Year
Dr. David Carlson has been selected as the Executive Director of the International Programme Office of the IPY. The Office resides at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, England. In 1991, Dr. Carlson joined the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research to lead the International Programme Office for TOGA-COARE (Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere - Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment), which focused on the western Pacific tropical warm ocean pool because of that region's influence on global atmospheric circulation and on global climate variability. From 1994-2003, Dr. Carlson directed the Atmospheric Technology Division within the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.

International Year of Planet Earth
On April 28. UNESCO's Executive Board approved a Draft Resolution on the International Year of Planet Earth that recommends that the UN proclaim an International Year of Planet Earth for 2007. The resolution will be taken up at the October meeting of the United National General Assembly.

The Business Plan and a Status Report (as of 5 April 2005) for the International Year are available on the Planet Earth, Earth Sciences for Society web page. Look for these reports at the bottom of the home page at www.esfs.org.

eGY (Electronic Geophysical Year)
eGY (www.egy.org) and the International Polar Year are discussing ways in which eGY might contribute to IPY programs. In addition, ORFEUS (Observatories and Research Facilities for EUropean Seismology) has sent a letter to eGY inviting collaboration on the specific goals of promoting the use of real-time data within universities, stimulating outreach activities to schools, and enabling knowledge transfer to developing countries, as well as promoting collaboration with other geophysical data exchange facilities in Europe.

International Heliophysical Year (IHY)
IHY held an open meeting on April 28 at the EGU-2005 meeting in Vienna, and expects to hold regional and international coordination meetings on June 6-8 in Sozopol, Bulgaria; during the June 20-24 AOGS meeting in Singapore; and on July 22-23 during the IAGA meeting in Toulouse, France. A mini-workshop on IHY, eGY, and IPY will be convened in association with the GEM/CEDAR meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA) on 28 June. For updates and other information on IHY activities, consult their website: http://ihy.gsfc.nasa.gov.

4. In Memoriam

Word has been received that Dr. Vladimir Ivanovici, At-Large member of the IAMAS Executive Committee, IAMAS Correspondent from Romania, and Director of the National Meteorological Administration in Bucharest, has passed away. He was widely respected, published numerous papers and had received prestigious awards. We deeply regret the loss of a remarkable scientist and close collaborator.

5. ICSU Regional Office for Africa

Professor Sospeter Muhongo has been appointed Executive Director of the ICSU Regional Office for Africa. He is Professor of Geology at the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and a fellow of the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS). He has received numerous awards and international recognition. A dedicated web-site for the regional office will open in April at the address www.icsu-africa.org.

Information regarding other ICSU (International Council for Science) activities can be found in their April Newsletter, ICSU Insight, which can be downloaded from the website www.icsu.org. Click on Media Centre.

6. IUGG-Related Meetings Occurring during May - July 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.

May 3 - May 5, 2005
URSI; Alexandria, VA - USA; 11th International Ionospheric Effects Symposium

May 9 - May 14, 2005
SCOSTEP; Taipei, Taiwan - China; 11th International Symposium on Equatorial Aeronomy

May 16 - May 19, 2005
Egyptian Geophysical Society; Cairo, Egypt; Imaging the Future: Cairo 2005 2nd International Petroleum Conference

May 16 - May 20, 2005
EGU/CIIFEN; Guayaquil, Ecuador; 1st Alexander von Humboldt International Conference on the El Niño phenomenon and its global impact

May 18 - May 20, 2005
NMIJ/BIPM; Tsukuba, Japan; NMIJ-BIPM Workshop on the Impact of Information Technology on Metrology

May 19 - May 20, 2005
IAHS; Budapest, Hungary; River Basin Management: Progress towards implementation of the European Water Framework Directive

May 22 - May 26, 2005
UN/Algeria/ESA; Algiers, Algeria; International Seminar on the Use of Space Technology for Disaster Management: Prevention and Management of Natural Disasters

May 23 - May 27, 2005
AGU/SEG/NABS/AAS; New Orleans, LA - USA; Joint Meeting

May 25 - May 28, 2005
IAHS; Nijmegen, The Netherlands; 3rd International Symposium on flood Defense: Floods, from Defense to Management

June 6 - June 9, 2005
IAHS; The Hague, Netherlands; ModelCARE2005: 5th International Conference on Calibration and Reliability in Groundwater Modeling - From Uncertainty to Decision Making

June 6 - June 10, 2005
UNESCO/IOC;Paris, France; International Ocean Research Conference

June 13 - June 18, 2005
IAGA/IASPEI/IAVCEI; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Geodynamics and Environmental Problems of High-Mountain Regions in the XXI Century

June 20 - June 23, 2005
IAHS; Bergen, Norway; HeadWater2005: 6th International Conference on Hydrology, Ecology, and Water Resources in Headwaters

June 20 - June 24, 2005
AOGS; Singapore, Singapore; AOGS 2005, the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society's 2nd Annual Meeting

June 20 - June 24, 2005
WCRP/GEWEX; Orange County, California, USA; 5th International Scientific Conference on the Global Energy and Water Cycle

June 27 - June 29, 2005
ITC; Chania City, Crete Island, Greece; 22nd IUGG International Tsunami Symposium

June 27 - July 1, 2005
CAWSES; Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy; Solar Variability and Earth Climate

July 3 - July 6, 2005
IUGG/UNESCO/AGU/EMI; Baku, Azerbaijan; International Workshop on Recent Geodynamics, Georisk and Sustainable Development in the Black Sea to Caspian Region

July 9 - July 16, 2005
ICC; A Coruña, Spain; ICC2005 Conference

July 18 - July 29, 2005
IAGA; Toulouse, France; 10th Scientific Assembly; www.IUGG.org/IAGA

Advanced attention is directed to the remaining Association Assemblies in 2005:

August 2 - August 11, 2005
IAMAS; Beijing, China; www.IAMAS.org

August 22 - August 25, 2005
IAG/IAPSO; Cairns, Australia; www.dynamicplanet2005.com

October 2 - October 8, 2005
IASPEI; Santiago, Chile; www.igm.cl/iaspei/iaspei.htm

End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 5 Number 6 (June 1, 2005)
J. A. Joselyn, Secretary General  [ http://www.IUGG.org ]
jjoselyn@cires.colorado.edu, fax:  1 303 497 3645.