Gy. Tóth | 2024-04-30

April 2024


General Announcement

  • Establishment of an IAG Secretariat at BEV
  • GGOS IberAtlantic: A new GGOS Affiliate

Meeting Announcement

  • IGS 2024 Workshop and Symposium

Meetings Calendar

IAG Sponsored Meetings

  • EUREF Symposium 2024
  • IGS Symposium and Workshop 2024
  • 20th Geodynamics and Earth Tides Symposium (G-ETS 2024)
  • Gravity, Geoid and Height Systems 2024
  • GGOS Days and GGOS Focus Areas Topical Meeting
  • 6th Joint International Symposium on Deformation Monitoring (JISDM)
  • IAG Scientific Assembly 2025

Geodesy Related Meetings

  • EGU General Assembly 2024
  • ION Pacific PNT Conference
  • FIG Working Week 2024
  • Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2024
  • 34th Conference on Mathematical Geophysics
  • 18th Symposium of SEDI
  • 45th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
  • 32th IAU General Assembly
  • 2024 European Polar Science Week conference
  • ESA 9th International Colloquium on Scientific and Fundamental Aspects of GNSS 2024



General Announcements


Establishment of an IAG Secretariat at BEV

The International Association of Geodesy (IAG) is a beacon of cooperation and innovation in the field of geodesy and promotes research and cooperation worldwide. Since its foundation in 1862, Austria has been a cornerstone as one of the three founding members, and numerous Austrian institutions and universities have contributed to its further development.

Among these institutions, the Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying (BEV – Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen) in Austria is a loyal supporter of geodesy. In particular, the BEV continues to make an important contribution by analyzing various geodetic space technologies such as GNSS and VLBI and regularly participates in international comparative measurements of its absolute gravimeter. Since 2016, the BEV has also been home to the Coordination Office of the IAG's Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS).

Building on the success of the GGOS Coordination Office in recent years, the IAG proposed the establishment of an IAG Secretariat at BEV - an idea warmly embraced by all parties involved. On April 16, 2024, an important milestone was reached when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the IAG and the BEV, initiating the establishment of this IAG Secretariat. This milestone was announced and celebrated at the Geodesy Reception on April 17, 2024, at the BEV headquarter in Vienna during the EGU General Assembly, which was attended by more than 140 international geodesists.


After the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, which initiated the establishment of the IAG Secretariat at BEV on April 16, 2024. ©BEV - From left to right: Wernher Hoffmann (BEV President), Harald Schuh (past IAG President), Richard Gross (IAG President), Franz Blauensteiner (Head of Reference Systems Department, BEV), Daniela Thaller (IAG Secretary General), Martin Sehnal (Director of GGOS Coordination Office and Executive Secretary at IAG Secretariat, BEV), Peter Teunissen (IAG Vice-President).


The future IAG Secretariat will take over the long-term tasks of the IAG Secretary General (IAG Office) as well as all IAG public relations tasks currently performed by the IAG Communications and Outreach Branch (COB). In future, this will enable seamless cooperation with the GGOS Coordination Office and reduce duplication of work. Plans are underway to formalize the establishment of the IAG Secretariat by the next IUGG General Assembly in 2027, subject to final confirmation by the IAG Council. BEV and the prospective Executive Secretary of the IAG Secretariat, Martin Sehnal, look forward to taking on an enhanced organizational role in international geodetic matters in the future and further highlighting the importance of geodesy in both science and society.

Announcement of the establishment of the IAG Secretariat at BEV during the EGU Geodesy Reception at BEV headquarter in Vienna on April 17, 2024. ©BEV

By Martin Sehnal, Director of the GGOS Coordinating Office


GGOS IberAtlantic: A new GGOS Affiliate

A GGOS Affiliate is a national or regional organisation that coordinates geodetic activities in that country or region. GGOS Affiliates provide a forum for multi-technique space geodetic discussions, work to improve the quality of space geodetic observations, and encourage cooperation between the various agencies in that country or region that own, operate, and maintain the space geodetic infrastructure there. 

During the GGOS Days 2022 (14-15 November 2022 in Munich, Germany) our colleagues Esther Azcue Infanzón and José Antonio López Fernández from the Yebes Observatory, Instituto Geográfico Nacional of Spain approached GGOS to evaluate the possibility of establishing a GGOS Affiliate. In 2023, they hosted the GGOS Days 2023 (20-22 September 2023 in Alcalá de Henares and Yebes Observatory, Spain) and gave dedicated presentations on the status of geodesy in Spain and Portugal, which provided a framework to concretise the proposal for GGOS IberAtlantic. 

(13 m) VLBI radio telescope of the RAEGE project (Red Atlántica de Estaciones Geodinámicas y Espaciales), a joint project of the Instituto Geográfico Nacional of Spain and the Government of the Azores, Portugal, and (40 m) radio telescope in Yebes, Spain. Courtesy of Esther Azcue Infazón.

Based on the outcomes of the GGOS Days 2023, the national geodetic authorities of both countries, the Instituto Geográfico Nacional and the National Section of Geodesy in Spain and the Direção Geral do Território in Portugal, signed letters of intent and defined terms of reference to initiate the operation of GGOS IberAtlantic.  In March 2024, GGOS received a formal request to create the GGOS subsidiary GGOS IberAtlantic and on 12 April 2024, the GGOS Governing Board unanimously approved GGOS IberAtlantic. We, the GGOS Executive Committee, welcome the Spanish and Portuguese colleagues to GGOS: Esther Azcue Infanzón, Helena Cristina Ribeiro, Luisa Magalhaes, José Antonio López Fernández, Marcelino Valdés Pérez De Vargas, and Manuel Ángel Sánchez Piedra, and highly appreciate their contribution. GGOS IberAtlantic now joins the two existing GGOS Affiliates: GGOS Japan and GGOS D-A-CH.


Laura Sánchez, GGOS President
Martin Sehnal, Director of the GGOS Coordinating Office
29th April 2024




Meeting Announcement


IGS 2024 Workshop and Symposium

The IGS started its operational service on 1 January, 1994. During the course of preparing for this operational phase, the first IGS workshop was held at the premises of the University of Bern from 25 to 26 March, 1993 focusing on the analysis centers. The first decade of operational service was celebrated at an IGS workshop hosted again in Bern Switzerland by the University of Bern in March 2004.

In 2024, the IGS will celebrate 30 years of operational service. The University of Bern together with the partners from the CODE consortium (AIUB: Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern, Switzerland; swisstopo: Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Wabern, Switzerland; BKG: Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, Frankfurt a. M., Germany; IAPG/TUM: Institute for Astronomical and Physical Geodesy, Technical University of Munich, Germany) invites the community to celebrate the third decade with a symposium together with an IGS workshop again in Bern, Switzerland at the premises of the University of Bern. The event is planned for the week from 1 to 5 July in 2024. This in-person event will take place in two parts: symposium (1-4 July) and workshop (4-5 July).



The program covers all aspects of GNSS data processing with the focus on the IGS activities:

  • Session 1 - GNSS Standards and Infrastructure 
  • Session 2 - Building Global GNSS-Based Reference Frames 
  • Session 3 - Giving Access To The Reference Frame Through GNSS 
  • Session 4 - GNSS for Climate Session 5 - GNSS-Enabled Applications

We are also proud to announce two keynote sessions:

  • Marco Falcone – Galileo and the Future of European Navigation 
  • Heike Peter – Copernicus POD Service – What is the Connection to the IGS?

In addition a session to celebrate the IGS's anniversary is planned for Wednesday.

The registration and abstract submission is open since beginning of March 2024. Please be reminded that the abstract deadline is set to May 10th!

Looking forward to meet you in Bern in roughly two months from now!

Best regards

Rolf Dach, Arturo Villiger, and Allison Craddock
on behalf of the LOC, SOC, and IGS CB


Meetings Calendar

IAG Sponsored Meetings

Geodesy Related Meetings

Further details are available in the IAG Event Calendar at: http://www.iag-aig.org/events


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 (newsletter@iag-aig.org). 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:

  1. news from the Bureau Members   
  2. general information
  3. reports of IAG symposia
  4. reports by commissions, special commissions or study groups
  5. symposia announcements
  6. book reviews
  7. fast bibliography

DOCUMENTS
IAG_Newsletter_April_2024.pdf

IAG Events

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