Journal of Geodesy (1998) 72: 705 ± 709

IAG Newsletter O. B. Andersen IAG Central Bureau, Department of Geophysics, Juliane Maries vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen é, Denmark e-mail: [email protected]; Fax: +45 3536 5357; URL:http://www.gfy.ku.dk/iag/

The IAG Newsletter is under the editorial responsibility of the IAG Central Bureau. It is an open forum and contributors are welcome to send material (preferably in electronic form) to the IAG Central Bureau. These contributions should complement information sent by IAG ocials or by IAG symposia organizers (reports and announcements). Each IAG Newsletter includes several of the following topics: · · · · · · ·

general information reports of IAG symposia reports by national correspondents reports by commissions, special commissions or study groups symposia announcements book reviews fast bibliography

General information IUGG General Assembly ± council meetings National representatives are members of the IAG Council. The task of the council is described in the IAG statutes and bylaws, which can be found in the Geodesists Handbook. (Also available on the internet at http://www.gfy.ku.dk/iag/). The Council meetings are scheduled to take place on Monday, July 19th (afternoon), Wednesday July 21st (evening) and Tuesday July 27th (evening). The agenda of the meetings will be distributed later.

Books for review are the responsibility of: Prof. Martin Vermeer Finnish Geodetic Institute Geodeetinrinne 2, (PL 15) SF-02431 Masala Finland e-mail: Martin.Vermeer@fgi.®

Changes in statutes and bylaws One of the tasks of the Council is the adoption of changes to the statutes and bylaws. The so-called Cassinis Committee (president ± Prof. W. Torge) prepares changes to the statutes and bylaws. If you wish to put forward any suggestions for changes, they must be sent to the Central Bureau half a year before the General Assembly, i.e. before January 19th, 1999, or you can contact Prof. W. Torge in person. Next scienti®c assembly The next scienti®c assembly will take place in the year 2001. We need proposals from national representatives for the place and time of the scienti®c assembly, including the name of the person, who will be the president of the local organizing committee. A description of the conference facilities and local support available is also needed. The meeting is planned to last for 1 week and a maximum of 500 participants are expected. One large meeting room with adjacent poster area is necessary. Rooms for smaller committee meetings are also needed. Proposals should be submitted before March 1 1999 to be considered at the next meeting of the Executive Committee (to be held in Paris, March 22 and 23, 1999). Bomford Prize Nominations for the Bomford Prize are called for from the national representatives. Nominations should be received at the Central Bureau half a year before the General Assembly, i.e. before January 19th 1999. A copy of the rules are available from the IAG www-site (http://www.gfy.ku.dk/iag/handbook/leval.htm). National reports National representatives are invited to prepare national reports to be distributed at the general assembly. (See

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IAG by-laws, '3-1). The reports should describe the geodetic work carried out since the last general assembly, and it is recommended that reports are structured according to subject in sections corresponding to the IAG sections. Unfortunately, the national reports have had very limited distribution. The Central Bureau wants to make the reports available on WWW. This means that the reports should preferably be available as HTML ®les (with associated gif or jpeg ®gures) or as PostScript ®les. Geodesists handbook The assistant General Secretary, Dr. Ole Baltazar Andersen, has been appointed editor of the handbook that will be published after the IUGG meeting in Birmingham. The existing handbook is available on WWW (http://www.gfy.ku.dk/iag/handbook/handbook.htm). Please check the information there, and if errors are found, we would very much like to receive the corrected information.

G2 Section II: Advanced space technology Section II is concerned with new space techniques for geodesy and geodynamics. Its objectives are to anticipate and promote their implementation into geodetic/ geodynamic work and, in general, support and coordinate the optimal use of modern space technology for the bene®t of geodesy. Papers are solicited in these areas with special emphasis on subjects related to the coordination of space techniques for geodesy and geodynamics (CSTG), the special commissions and the studygroups. However, several topics are dealt with in the IUGG Symposia and Inter-Association Symposia, U7, JSA10, JSG11, JSH12, JSP23, JSG28, JWS33, JSV36, JSA37, and JSM41, and papers which naturally belong to these symposia may be transferred to them.

Meeting announcements

Session 1: Business meeting of section II Sessions 2, 3 and 4: Oral and poster presentations Convenor and section president: R. Rummel, Technical University Muenchen, Inst. of Astr. & Physical Geodesy, Archisstrasse 21, D-80280, Muenchen, Germany, e-mail: [email protected], Fax: +49-89-28923178.

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics IUGG99, 18±30 July 1999. Birmingham

G3 Section III: Determination of the gravity ®eld

Program description for the IAG section of IUGG NOTE. Abstract deadline 15 January 1999 Full scienti®c program and call for abstracts is now available at http:/www.bham.ac.uk/IUGG99/ G1 Section I: positioning Section I is concerned with the scienti®c aspects of the measurement and analysis of regional and global geodetic networks, as well as satellite, inertial, kinematic and marine positioning. The practical results of this research work are made available through recommendations to national survey organisations. Applications of geodesy in engineering is a subject dealt with by section I. Tremendous advances in GPS surveying have taken place, especially in precision and applicability. However, there are many issues of accuracy and reliability of GPS surveying (hardware and software) that need to be addressed. Furthermore, GPS measurements have shown their potential for use as a remote sensing tool for atmospheric parameters. Papers are solicited in these areas with special emphasis on topics related to subjects not dealt with at the IUGG Symposia and InterAssociation Symposia, such as U7, JSA09, JSG11, JSP23, JSG28, JSS31 and JSV36. Session 1: Business meeting of section I Sessions 2, 3 and 4: Oral and poster presentations Convenor and section president: F. K. Brunner Technical University of Graz, Dept. of Engineering Geodesy, Steyrergasse 30, A-8010 Graz, Austria, e-mail: [email protected], Fax: +43-316-8736321.

This section deals with the determination and modelling of the Earth's gravitational ®eld. This includes: absolute and relative terrestrial gravity measurements, gravity networks and control stations, non-tidal gravity variations, determination of the external gravity ®eld and geoid, the di€erent gravity ®eld data types, and reduction and estimation of gravity ®eld quantities. Papers are solicited in these areas, with special emphasis on topics related to the commissions, services and special study group. However, many topics are dealt with by the IUGG Inter-Associations Symposia, such as U1, U7, JSA09, JSA10, JSG11, JSH12, JSG14, JWS33, JSV36, JSA37 and JSA38. Session 1: Business meeting of section III Sessions 2 and 3: Oral and poster presentations Convenor and section president: R. Forsberg, Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen, Rentemestervej 8, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark, e-mail: [email protected], Fax: +45-35875052. G4 Section IV Topics addressed by Section IV: (1) mathematical and physical foundations of geodesy with a particular focus on statistics, numerical and approximation methods, boundary value problems, geometry, relativity, cartography, theory of orbits and dynamics of systems; (2) inversion of altimetric data; (3) wavelets in geodesy; (4) integrated inverse gravity modelling; (5) dynamic isostasy; and (6) temporal variations of the gravity ®eld. Papers are solicited in these areas with special emphasis being placed on topics related to Special Commission 1,

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to its Subcommissions and to current Special Study Groups of the Section. Note that papers related to topics (2), (4) and (6) should preferably be presented at the IUGG Inter-Association Symposia, JSM41, JSA40, JSS31 and JSG14. Papers that are judged to be closely related to one of these symposia should be submitted to the relevant one.

Co-convenors: F. Brunner (Austria), R. Rummel (Germany), R. Forsberg (Denmark), P. Holota (Czech Republic), M. Feissel (France)

Session 1: Business meeting of section IV Sessions 2 and 3: Oral presentations Session 4: Poster presentations Convenor and section president: Dr. P. Holota, Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography 250 66 Zdiby 98, Praha-vychod, Czech Republic, e-mail: [email protected], Fax: +42-2-6857056

1. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 January 1999 2. Abstracts will be accepted in English and in French 3. Abstracts will be rejected if they: (1) are not in the proper format, (2) are not submitted to a speci®c Symposium or Workshop, (3) are received by fax 4. Accepted abstracts will be published in an abstract volume. Submission of an abstract for the Assembly is presumed to carry with it permission for the IUGG to reproduce the abstract in programmes and reports related to the Assembly. IUGG99 will acknowledge receipt of all abstracts in February 1999. 5. Acceptance letters will be mailed in April 1999 6. Methods of submission:

G5 Section V: Geodynamics Section V deals with the following topics: reference systems, monitoring and study of time-dependent phenomena, such as polar motion, precession and nutation, length of day, motion of the geocenter, Earth tides, crustal deformations, variations of gravity, sea surface topography including mean sea level, geodetic aspects of international geodynamic projects, such as the Lithosphere project, geophysical interpretation of gravity and related data. Presentations will be solicited in these areas with special emphasis on topics related to the work of the commissions and special study groups, which are not treated in the IUGG Symposia and InterAssociation Symposia. Note especially U1, U2, U3, U5, U7, JSG11 and JSH12, JSG14, JSP23, JWS33, JSV36, and JSM41. Papers which are judged to be closely related to one of these symposia should be submitted to the relevant one. Sessions 1, 2 and 3: Business meetings of section V Convenor and section president: M. Feissel, President of section V, Observatoire de Paris, 61 Av. de l'Observatoire, F 75014 Paris (France), e-mail: [email protected], Fax: +33-1-40512291 G6 Geodesy beyond 2000 ± The challenges of the ®rst decade This intersection symposium will take place over 3 days and is subdivided into three topics: · · ·

Modelling the Earth at the part per billion level The role of kinematic methods in geodesy A structure for IAG that can meet the future scienti®c challenges

The symposium will consist primarily of invited papers, but both oral and poster presentations are welcome. A panel discussion will conclude the symposium. Convenor: K. P. Schwarz, President IAG, University of Calgary, Department of Geomatics Engineering, 2500 University Drive N.W., T2N 1N4 Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Fax: +1-403-2841980

Submission of abstracts

· By electronic submission via IUGG99 website ± a submission form will be available on our website from 16 November 1998 onwards. · By e-mail ± do not send as attachment; please send as an e-mail message following the template given below; to facilitate the handling of incoming abstracts, please ensure that the wording ``IUGG99 Abstract Submission'' is the subject of your message. Send your submission to: IUGG99.([email protected]) · By post ± only to be used if the previous two options are unavailable to you; please follow the template below. Send 1 original and two copies to following address: IUGG99 Abstract Submission, School of Earth, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Copy must be of letter-quality. Abstracts are photographed exactly as they are received, with a 50% reduction, for printing in an abstract volume 7. IUGG99 will forward all abstracts to the head convenor of the session(s) to which abstracts are submitted However, to speed up the acceptance process, it is essential that you send a further copy of your abstract directly to the overall coordinator or head convenor. If there are two or more identi®ed as `convenor', please send your copy to the ®rst named. When submitting by e-mail or by post please provide the following information [allow for 5 carriage returns (blank lines) between submitted abstract and submission information]. Please structure your submission in line with, and using, the numbering given below. Please do not add any information other than that required below -± further comments can be made under ``speci®c requests''. 1. Symposium or workshop number to which submission is made

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2. Symposium or workshop title to which submission is made 3. Correspondence address: give name and mailing address of the author to whom all correspondence (acknowledgement and acceptance letter) should be sent. Include the corresponding author's telephone number (with international code), fax number, and complete electronic mail address 4. Type of presentation preferred: (combinations are possible, e.g. O+P+V) Oral Presentation = O, Poster Presentation = P, Computer Presentation = C, Video Presentation = V 5. Special requests 6. Student paper: if student author is presenting the paper, please indicate YES 7. Are you applying for a grant: YES or NO; list name of author(s) who is (are) applying for a grant. If you do apply for a grant, please read the instructions for ``Grants Application'' carefully

Meeting reports Report of workshop ``Airborne Gravity and the Polar Gravity Field'' ± Greenland, June 1998 The international workshop on ``Airborne Gravity and the Polar Gravity Field'' was held in Kangerlussuaq (Sondre Stromfjord), the major airport base of Greenland, from June 2 to 4 1998. The workshop was organized and sponsored by the National Survey and Cadastre of Denmark (KMS), with additional economic support from the Commission for Scienti®c Research in Greenland and the International Association of Geodesy. The workshop was called in particular response to the developments in airborne gravity surveying made in recent years. Airborne gravity surveying allows, for the ®rst time, a practical means of surveying the remaining polar gaps in the global gravity data coverage, thus improving global gravity ®eld models and geoids of the future, as well as giving new insights into the tectonics of the Arctic and Antarctica. The workshop was also organized in order that specialists in gravity surveys and interpretation could discuss methods and techniques in informal terms. The workshop coincided with the initiation of KMS airborne gravity measurements in the area, and included a tour of the KMS TwinOtter aircraft installation. The university of Calgary, Canada and BKE, Germany also provided inertial gravity measurement units, which were mounted on an experimental basis along with a conventional gravimeter, and used for a joint test ¯ight immediately following the workshop. The workshop attracted 28 scientists involved in gravity or airborne remote sensing from a number of countries: USA (5), Canada (4), Germany (4), Russia (3), Norway (3), as well as scientists from Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Denmark, with a corresponding number of presented papers and posters. The program was organized in the following sessions: ``Aerogravity

review and projects'', ``Global gravity ®eld'', ``Aerogravity systems'', ``Error models and hardware'' and ``GPS, surface gravity and related geophysical data''. To limit the workload, and to enhance the informal nature of the workshop, it was never planned to publish the proceedings. The papers presented covered a wide subject range, from theoretical studies of methods to reviews of major ongoing projects, such as the NRL (J. Brozena), AWI (U. Meyer) and Russian (V. Leonov) airborne Arctic and Antarctic gravity data collection activities. Accuracy seems to range from 2 to 5 mgal, with resolution often at 10±15 km, depending on aircraft speed and ®ltering parameters. Slower airspeeds provide the possibility of higher resolution (e.g., illustrated by papers of the AGMASCO project). A number of papers also dealt with new inertial-based hardware, utilizing either existing lasergyro inertial navigation systems (Glennie, Bruton, Colomina) or authors' own developments (Cunha, Boedecker), which ± when developed for routine use ± would circumvent some of the problems of the currently used gyro-gimballed gravimeter systems. Accuracies of a few mgal seems to be possible currently. A major new piece of information for western participants was provided by a presented compilation of Russian gravity, magnetic and bathymetry data in the Arctic (Maschenkov and Zayonchek), illustrating the monumental polar scienti®c e€orts undertaken over decades by the former Soviet Union (now Russia), through icebreaker, airborne and ice camp expeditions. On the global level presentations were made on the recent EGM96 global reference ®eld (Kenyon), as well as Russian global models (Demianov), emphasizing the importance of the polar areas for improving future models of this type. On the methodological presentations, papers dealt with such topics as improved ®ltering and o€-level corrections of airborne platform gravimeter systems (Childers, Olesen), downward continuation (Rubek), and papers on data fusion, global representation and inversion (e.g., Strakhov, Strykowski). Additional papers described projects relating to surface gravity data, comparisons with satellite altimetry, SAR interferometry, and ongoing magnetic projects in the Arctic. During the workshop, discussion periods addressed future developments in aerogravity, the current status of commercial activities, and the possibility of a future polar gravity ®eld project, especially compiling available Arctic gravity data. For Antarctica an initiative has recently been started to compile existing gravity data as a spin-o€ of a magnetic compilation project (ADMAP project). Discussions also included near-linguistic issues: What is the meaning of such frequently used terms as ``accuracy from cross-over analysis'' (divide r.m.s. crossovers by the square-root of 2 or not) and ``resolution'' (full-wavelength or half-wavelength)?. It was apparent that a common language was needed between the different groups currently active in airborne gravity measurement and accuracy evaluation. With the location at a former US air base site, social activities included a bowling tournament, an outdoor

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Musk-Ox barbecue (accompanied by millions of hungry mosquitoes), and a wildlife excursion (and, for the associates, a low-level glacier ¯ight). It is hoped that the good spirit of the workshop will continue in future workshops and in practical teamwork among the participants in the ®eld of scienti®c gravity. Reported by the workshop organizer: Rene Forsberg, KMS, Denmark Book review Conway, John B.: On Being a Departmental Head, a Personal View. American Mathematical Society / Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP. 1996, 107 pp. Paperback £18, ISBN0-82180615-7 This is a very interesting small book, especially for those of us who operate in North America. Even though many of the observations, attitudes, problems and remedies described in this book are particular to a department of mathematics, of which, unlike departments of geodesy, there is one in each university, one can often sympathize with professor Conway and learn a few tricks from him. The title should, however, properly read ``On being a head of a larger department of mathematics in the USA''. The most interesting aspect of the book, at least for your reviewer, is the insight into the ``American psyche''

that the book o€ers. Being simultaneously endearing and arrogant, displaying imperious tendencies ¯avoured with political correctness ± how quintessentially American! My favourite part is the following passage (page 20) that discusses the academic calibre of US students destined for university education: ``We are dedicated to maximizing the amount of time every student spends in school. So when I see a study comparing average test scores of high school seniors in the US with another country or some group of countries, I feel as though I am watching either stupidity or malevolence on parade. This is a comparison between non-corresponding population samples''. Well, precisely! Do not let the author's obsession with ``subnormal operators'' detract you from picking some pearls of wisdom from the book, such as (page 99): ``Money has a way of attracting the academic lowlife from under their rock of deserved obscurity.'' Or (page 93): ``[Some] advocate considering the `student as customer'. Baloney! Customers know what they want...''. There are quite a few of those pearls in this thin book, as well as many quotables such as (page 51): ``Almost all undergraduate courses can be taught by any mathematician.'' Go ahead and order your own copy from the American Mathematical Society, P.O. Box 6248, Providence, Rhode Island 02940-6248, USA. It cannot cost much, even if it is printed on acid-free paper. Petr Vanõ cek