*************************************************************************** Gazette IERS Gazette IERS Gazette IERS Gazette IERS Gazette No 02, 11 June 1996 *************************************************************************** Title: Discussions to prepare the 1996 IERS Workshop Author: Martine Feissel, Secretary, IERS Directing Board Dear colleagues, At its 1996 May 23 meeting, the IERS Directing Board decided to review the service missions and organisation in order to enhance its provision of global references to space- and ground-based scientific projects. The 1996 IERS Workshop, to be held in Paris on 14-18 October, will be devoted to this review. The months between now and the Fall will be used for a careful preparation of the decisions, with the hope that some actions may be started following the Workshop. This may lead to the proposal of modifications in the organisation of IERS that would be discussed in August 1997 at the IAU General Assembly in Kyoto, and in September 1997 at the IAG General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro. The discussion will be organized under six topics, each prepared by Topic Coordinators helped by a small group. The Topics are as follows. 1: Assessment of current missions 2: Astronomical reference frames 3: Vertical references, incl. geoid, sea level, etc. 4: Topography and crustal deformations 5: Unification of regional reference systems 6: Earth rotation dynamics and geophysical fluids The details of topics and people in charge are given in the attachments. All interested individuals are invited to contact the Topic Coordinators to promote their views. In thinking about what should IERS be in the future, please consider that opening the above questions is exactly that - opening questions, not deciding now that every action mentioned has necessarily to be done in the future by IERS. The participation to the Workshop will be by invitation only. The list of invitees is being set up in concertation between the Topic coordinators and the IERS Directing Board. Efforts will be made to insure balance of disciplines and countries. This information is sent to the IERS Central Bureau largest distribution list (about 500 items). Redistribution by any recipient is welcome. The IERS Directing Board intent is that the discussion be as broad as needed. We thank you for any contribution you could make to improve the IERS. Martine Feissel --- Attachment 1: Topics for discussion and Topic Coordinators Attachment 2: Schedule of meetings connected with the IERS Workshop Attachment 3: Useful e-mail addresses ============================================================================== Attachment 1: Topics for discussion and Topic Coordinators TOPICS ------ _____1: Assessment of current missions _______ Topic Coordinators: G. Beutler, I. Mueller _______ Questions asked: - Users of, requirements for, and access to the International Terrestrial Reference System. - Users of, requirements for, and access to the International Celestial Reference System. - Users of, requirements for, and access to Earth orientation information (universal time, polar motion, precession-nutation). - Conventions: How often should conventions be updated? Does IERS want to produce and maintain software for users? - How did the IERS structure work (Directing Board, Coordinating Centres, Bureaux) work? How can this be improved? How to use it in the case when the IERS missions would be extended? _____2: Astronomical reference frames _______ Topic Coordinators: J. Kovalevsky, M. Standish _______ Question asked: - What should be the role of IERS in the future maintenance of the International Celestial Reference Frame, changes in radio source structure, dynamical reference frames, frames for other wavelengths, links between frames? _____3: Vertical references, incl. geoid, sea level, etc. _______ Topic Coordinators: C. Boucher, B. Carter _______ Questions asked: - Should IERS make an effort to put tide gauges in the International Terrestrial Reference System? - Does IERS want to maintain a geoid? - Issues related to the geopotential - Tidal variations and surface loadings - Should IERS monitor the motion of the geocentre? _____4: Topography and crustal deformations _______ Topic Coordinators: B. Engen, J.B. Minster _______ Questions asked: - Does IERS want to coordinate the monitoring of crustal motion? - Does IERS want to produce bulletins of abnormal station motions? _____5: Unification of regional reference systems _______ Topic Coordinators: W. Augath, J. Manning _______ Question asked: - What should be the role of IERS in unifying the national datums into the International Terrestrial Reference System? _____6: Earth rotation dynamics and geophysical fluids _______ Topic Coordinators: V. Dehant, C. Wilson _______ Questions asked: - Assessment of current mission: Users of, requirements for, and access to the Atmospheric Angular Momentum. - Possible mission extension: Should IERS take some part in the coordination of the monitoring of global fluids (underground waters, ocean currents, core currents)? - Geophysical monitoring pertaining to nutations. ============================================================================== Attachment 2: Schedule of meetings connected with the IERS Workshop Meetings - all at Paris Observatory: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 OCTOBER 7-11 Morning Afternoon --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday free IAU WGRF Meeting ........................................................................... Tuesday IAU WGRF Meeting IAU WGRF Meeting ........................................................................... Wednesday free ITRF Workshop ........................................................................... Thursday ITRF Workshop ITRF Workshop .............................................................. ............ Friday EOP Techn. disc. EOP Techn. disc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 OCTOBER 14-18 Morning Afternoon --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday DB mtg DB+Topic Coord. Topic 1 Topic 2 ........................................................................... Tuesday Topic 3 Topic 4 Topic 5 Topic 6 ........................................................................... Wednesday --- group discussions --- Gen. discus. Conclusion ........................................................................... Thursday CSTG(1) CSTG(2) CSTG(3) CSTG(4) .............................................................. ............ Friday CSTG(5) CSTG(6) DB+Topic Coord. DB mtg --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================== Attachment 3: Useful e-mail addresses Topic Coordinators W. Augath augath@kgise.geo.tu-dresden.de, G. Beutler beutler@aiub.unibe.ch, C. Boucher boucher@ign.fr, B. Carter bcarter@ce.ufl.edu, V. Dehant veroniq@oma.be, B. Engen bjorn@gdiv.statkart.no, J. Kovalevsky kovalevsky@mfg.cnes.fr, J. Manning jmanning@auslig.gov.au B. Minster jbminster@ucsd.edu, I. Mueller mueller@mps.ohio-state.edu, M. Standish ems@smyles.jpl.nasa.gov, C. Wilson clarkw@maestro.geo.utexas.edu, Extended IERS Directing Board O. Andersen ole@kms.min.dk, F. Arias felicitas@obspm.fr, C. Boucher boucher@ign.fr, M. Feissel feissel@obspm.fr, D. Gambis gambis@obspm.fr, B. Kolaczek kolaczek@cbk.waw.pl, C. Ma cma@gemini.gsfc.nasa.gov D. McCarthy dmc@maia.usno.navy.mil, W. Melbourne Bill_Melbourne@jpl-335-server.jpl.nasa.gov, C. Reigber Reigber@gfz-potsdam.de, S. Salstein salstein@aer.com, B. Schutz schutz@utcsr.ae.utexas.edu, C. Veillet veillet@ocar01.obs-azur.fr, P. Willis willis@schubert.ign.fr