J Geod (2012) 86:785–786 DOI 10.1007/s00190-012-0586-z

IAG NEWSLETTER

IAG Newsletter Gyula Tóth

Published online: 9 August 2012 © Springer-Verlag 2012

The IAG Newsletter is under the editorial responsibility of the Communication and Outreach Branch (COB) of the IAG. It is an open forum and contributors are welcome to send material (preferably in electronic form) to the IAG COB ([email protected]). These contributions should complement information sent by IAG officials or by IAG symposia organizers (reports and announcements). The IAG Newsletter is published monthly. It is available in different formats from the IAG new internet site: http://www.iag-aig. org. Each IAG Newsletter includes several of the following topics: I. General information II Reports of IAG symposia III Reports by commissions, special commissions or study groups IV Symposia announcements V Book reviews VI Fast bibliography Books for review are the responsibility of: C.C. Tscherning University of Copenhagen Dept. of Geophysics Copenhagen, Denmark Fax: +45 35365357 E-mail: [email protected] G. Tóth (B) IAG Communication and Outreach Branch, MTA-BME Research Group for Physical Geodesy and Geodynamics, Department of Geodesy and Surveying, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1521 Budapest, Hungary e-mail: [email protected] URL:http://www.iag-aig.org

General Announcements GGOS Theme 3 Call GGOS Theme 3 would like to announce a Call for Participation. Theme 3 is concerned with sea level science including the impacts of sea level change along the world’s continental coastlines and at islands. The Theme is issuing a call for projects that demonstrate the value of geodetic techniques to sea level research and applications. The replies to the Call will be assessed by a review committee, and the successful ones will be publicised on the GGOS web site. Information on the Call and a template for submissions can be found at http://www.ggos.org/Applications/themes/ theme3_call_template_final.pdf. Further information on GGOS Theme 3 can be found at http://www.ggos.org/Applications/theme3_SL.html. Please note that while an initial deadline is mentioned in the call, submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis. Questions can be addressed to the Theme 3 leaders: Mark Tamisiea, Tilo Schöne, Philip Woodworth, and C.K. Shum. Coordination Office Global Geodetic Observing System

Book Review Wolfgang Torge, Jürgen Müller: Geodesy (4th edition) Title: Geodesy (4th edition) Authors: Wolfgang Torge, Jürgen Müller Publisher: De Gruyter Incorporated, Walter Series: de Gruyter Textbook ISBN: 978-3-11-025000-8 Year: 2012

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Price: 44.95 EUR, 63 USD Pages: X, 434, 111 b/w, 80 color illustrations Details: Paperback. Available as e-book Finally the new edition of W. Torge’s Geodesy is published. This time with he’s successor as a professor in Hannover, Jürgen Müller as co-author. This reviewer has successfully used the earlier editions of “Geodesy” in teaching at the University of Copenhagen, and for sure this new edition will be as successful as the earlier version. It covers all of geodesy except “plane surveying”, a subject covered by many other fine textbooks. The book is thoroughly revised and extended with the important results achieved in the years since the last edition (2001). The section on Satellite Observations has been extended with descriptions of the current missions like

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GRACE and GOCE. Geodynamics is well treated in an extended chapter on “Structure and Dynamics of the Earth”. The book contains an extensive bibliography with 500 references added since the edition of 2001. Look for your own name there. But what is extremely important is the index, which makes the book useful as a handbook for everyone. The book also includes many fine figures and illustrations, now also in color. A few critical points for consideration for the 5th edition. The free-air gravity anomaly is introduced twice. At first as a quantity referring to the geoid and then later as a quantity referring to the telluroid following the definition of Molodensky. These two definitions should be found together on the same page. Normal gravity at the ellipsoid is the basic quantity with a free-air contribution added to get normal gravity. However with calculations in space in mind the use of the expansion in Legendre polynomials (described in the text) is a much more consistent way to calculate normal gravity at ground or in space. Least-squares collocation is to the great satisfaction of the reviewer treated in a separate section. Here is missing reference to the equivalent mathematical model of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces used when creating analytic models of the covariance function. It is also mentioned that the method is (was) restricted, because as many equations as the number of unknowns have to be solved. Here the situation has dramatically changed due to the use of multiprocessing and faster computers. What is missing now is information on available software and data (some internet-links are given however). But maybe this information ought to be collected and updated by the Outreach Branch of the International Association of Geodesy. A set of (solved) exercises would also be very useful. The authors should be encouraged to create a web-site with such material. It is a wonderful book with so much important information covering all of modern geodesy. The authors are to be congratulated for this important work. C.C. Tscherning University of Copenhagen