Delivered-To: igsmail@igscb.jpl.nasa.gov Subject: [IGSMAIL-5291]: Summary of 27th IGS Governing Board Meeting, Dec. 2005 To: igsmail@igscb.jpl.nasa.gov Message-ID: From: John.Dow@esa.int Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:29:25 +0100 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-igsmail Precedence: bulk ****************************************************************************** IGS Electronic Mail 19 Jan 08:29:42 PST 2006 Message Number 5291 ****************************************************************************** Author: John M. Dow Subject: Summary of 27th IGS Governing Board Meeting, Dec. 2005 Dear Colleagues, The 27th Meeting of the IGS Governing Board (GB) took place on Sunday 4 December in San Francisco. I would like to summarise the main topics discussed and some of the conclusions reached. The year 2005 had a number of significant milestones for the IGS: Finalisation and approval by the GB took place in March 2005 of the new Terms of Reference (ToR, see http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/organization/bylaws.html). The changes were summarised in IGSMail-5119, and brought the ToR up-to-date with respect to several developments which had taken place over the last years. We note in particular the change of name to "International GNSS Service IGS" to reflect broader interests of the IGS; the formalisation of the IGS Executive Committee (which was established in January 2003 and charged with moving ahead strategic and other issues between Board meetings); some changes to representation on the Board; new Policy Statements for Analysis Centres, Data Centres, Working Groups and Pilot Projects. A "Focus Area Review" was held at the Technical University Vienna in April 2005 on the day preceeding the 26th GB Meeting. This was a mini-workshop which concentrated on issues being developed by the GNSS WG, the LEO WG and the Real-Time WG (reflecting the three key areas highlighted in the IGS Strategic Plan 2002-2007), as well as the topical issue of antenna phase centre modelling. The IGS was present at the IUGG Assembly in Cairns, Australia in August 2005: an Executive Committee meeting was held, and a paper on IGS status was presented. The Cairns meeting was dominated by the formal establishment of GGOS, the Global Geodetic Observing System. The new GGOS Chair and one of the two Deputies (Markus Rothacher and Ruth Neilan, resp.) are IGS Board members. Significant items dealt with by the GB in December were: The results of the elections for three positions in the GB were reported and confirmed by the GB. The members elected by the IGS Associates for the term 2006-2009 are: Urs Hugentobler (Univ. of Bern, Switzerland; Analysis Representative) Norman Beck (Natural Resources Canada; Network Representative) Carey Noll (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Centre; Data Centre Representative) The current incumbents of the Network and Data Centre positions were thus re-elected. The current incumbent of the AC position (Peng Fang, SIO) had decided not to stand for election. The Board thanked the Election Committee (Chris Rizos, Jim Zumberge and Markus Rothacher) for their effective work in organising the elections with the support of the IGS Central Bureau, and all candidates for their willingness to participate in the elections. Following a proposal by the Central Bureau (as foreseen in the ToR), two new Appointed Members were unanimously invited by the Board to join the GB for the period 2006-2009: these are Dr. Bill Kuo, atmospheric scientist and Director of the COSMIC Project at UCAR, Boulder CO, and Richard Wannacott, Director of Survey Service of the South African Department of Land Affairs. Bill Kuo has since confirmed acceptance, while Richard Wannacott is expecting internal approval in the near future. It was noted that the positions of Analysis Centre Cordinator and Board Chair become vacant at the end of 2006 and that consideration of possible successors is needed in good time. GFZ may be able to offer a continuation of Gerd Gendt as ACC. The next IGS Workshop will take place at ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt in the week 8-12 May 2006, with main themes including the IGS role in GGOS and in new GNSS developments, and the IGS vision for the future (see IGSMail-5259). A Scientific Organising Committee is being formed under the chairmanship of the Analysis Centre Coordinator (Gerd Gendt). Proposals for sessions are being gathered and the programme outline will be announced shortly. A Strategic Planning retreat is envisaged for Autumn 2006 and strategic planning issues will be addressed in the Darmstadt workshop in preparation for this. A Call for Participation in a Real-Time Pilot Project will be developed by the Real Time Working Group. The timescale foreseen is issue in Spring 2006 and start of the Pilot Project by June 2006. It was decided (following a proposal by the IGLOS PP Chair, Jim Slater) to discontinue the Glonass Pilot Project, since it was considered to be adequately integrated into the mainstream IGS data flow and processing cycle. This can be considered to be a major step foward and promises well for the integration of other GNSS in the future. IGS Glonass concerns will be handled in future by the GNSS WG (Chair: Robert Weber). The GB noted that the new Global Data Centre operated in test mode by the Korean Astronomy and Science Institute (KASI) since January 2005 demonstrated a degree of maturity that would allow it to participate fully in the IGS operations. The Board unanimously welcomed KASI as the fourth IGS GDC and first new GDC since the initial establishment of the IGS, and thanked Dr. James Park and his colleagues for the excellent support being provided by KASI. The Board Chair and CB Director both attended a series of meetings over the past year at the United Nations in Vienna concerned with the establishment of an "International Committee on GNSS", whose members would be governments operating Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Non-Government Organisations representing significant user communities. A meeting to formally establish the ICG was held at the UN in Vienna under the auspices of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN OOSA) on 1 and 2 December 2005 immediately preceeding the 27th GB Meeting. Despite some late difficulties for two of the GNSS providers (Russia and China), who will continue to work with the ICG and probably join later, the ICG was established at a late hour on Friday 2 December. The IGS is expected to become a full member of ICG, following formal approval by the IGS GB. The IAG, FIG, BIPM, COSPAR are among other NGO's which are expected to become members or observers. The US State Department, the European Commission and the European Space Agency all indicated that they will become members of the ICG. A streamlined approach to handling the incorporation of new stations in the IGS network was proposed by the Network Coordinator (Angie Moore) and adopted by the Board. Details will be made available of the IGS website. Good progress is being made now on the AFREF project, which is receiving a lot of support from the IGS and IAG. Our new GB member Richard Wannacott (member of the AFREF Steering Committee, as is Ruth Neilan) will help to strengthen this link between IGS and AFREF. A reception was held following the GB meeting, with invitations to other IAG Services, to honour IGS Governing Board members leaving the Board, notably Bob Serafin and Chris Reigber (former Chair). Please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail or give me a call if you wish some further clarification on any of these issues, or others which you feel may need the attention of the IGS Governing Board. I would like to thank again the many individuals and institutions who continue to support the work of the IGS. Wishing you all a healthy and successful New Year 2006. Yours sincerely, John M. Dow Chair, IGS Governing Board