Subject: [IGSMAIL-5692]: 31st IGS Governing Board Meeting To: IGSMail@igscb.jpl.nasa.gov Message-ID: From: John.Dow@esa.int Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:52:18 +0100 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-igsmail Precedence: bulk ****************************************************************************** IGS Electronic Mail 24 Jan 08:52:30 PST 2008 Message Number 5692 ****************************************************************************** Author: John M. Dow Dear Colleagues, I'd like to summarise briefly for you a few highlights of the topics discussed at the 31st Governing Board Meeting, held in San Francisco on 9 December 2007, and at the same time indicate some of the key activities for the IGS in 2008. The space devoted to changes in Board membership is for your information, and is not proportional to the time devoted to this in the meeting! - New web address for IGS! http://igs.org Short and easy to remember ... An update of the website content is being planned by the Central Bureau for this year. - Strategic Plan The IGS Strategic Plan 2008-2012 was adopted by the Board in August 2007. A printed version is in preparation and the core text will be available on the website. An Implementation Plan for 2008 is in draft. It is intended to iterate it by means of the GO Forum (see below). - Changes in Board membership Due to the completion of their terms as Analysis Centre Representatives (in both cases two terms of 4 years), Markus Rothacher (GFZ, Germany) and Jim Zumberge (JPL, USA) leave the Board. Elections (by the IGS Associates) were held in November. As a result Tim Springer (ESA/ESOC) and Bob King (MIT, USA) join Urs Hugentobler as AC Representatives. A handover is currently taking place between Gerd Gendt (GFZ) and Jim Ray (NOAA/NGS, USA) as Analysis Centre Coordinator. This is expected to be complete in the first months of 2008. A dedicated meeting of Analysis Centre representatives was held on 10 December, under the chairmanship of the new ACC. Angie Moore leaves her position as Network Coordinator and Deputy Director of the Central Bureau, as announced in a recent IGS Mail. Angie served in this position since 1998 and we shall miss her: however, she will continue in a part-time capacity with the Central Bureau. A handover of the ionosphere products coordination and chairmanship of the Ionosphere Working Group took place during 2007 between Manuel Hernandez-Pajares (UPC, Spain) and Andrzej Krankowski (Univ. of Warmia and Mazury, Poland). In July 2007 Richard Wonnacott of South Africa confirmed his ability to serve on the Board. Stefan Schaer has joined the Board as head of the recently formed Bias and Calibration Working Group. The IAG re-appointed Geoff Blewitt as the IAG representative to the Board, and Gerhard Beutler will also remain as 2nd IAG representative, each for the next four years until 2011. Chris Rizos was unanimously re-appointed for a second term to the GB. The Board approved the Chair's proposal for the 2008 Executive Committee to consist of Chris Rizos, Urs Hugentobler and Geoff Blewitt, plus the GB Chair and the Director of the CB, A reception was held following the GB meeting in honour of retiring Board members, at which we were able to thank them for their remarkable services to the IGS. - Real Time The Board voted unanimously in favour of proceeding with the Real Time Pilot Project. All 32 proposal received were accepted (one being subject to confirmation of availability of funds, without which it will not start). The project began on 15 January 2008, managed by the Real Time Pilot Project Committee (formed from the existing RT WG), chaired by Mark Caissey (NRCan, Canada). - Workshop The next IGS Workshop will be held in Miami, Florida from 2-6 June 2008 and will be organised by NOAA/NGS (Gerry Mader). The next Governing Board meeting takes place in Miami on 1 June. The programme of the Workshop has been drafted and will be announced shortly. (And the long-awaited Proceedings CD from the Darmstadt Workshop should be on your desk by now!) - GO Forum A wiki site for IGS information exchange has been set up at the Central Bureau. Dedicated areas are available for the Governing Board and for IGS Working Groups, which are encouraged to take advantage of this. Contact the Central Bureau for further information. - Antenna WG initiated Urs Hugentobler has drawn up draft Terms of Reference for an Antenna Working Group. The membership list is being finalised. The Board gave the go-ahead to propose a chairperson from the membership and initiate the activity. - SMOS support A request was received from the ESA SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Explorer) project to provide ionosphere maps (predicted and determined) in support of this mission. The Board has agreed to support this request. - IGS external relations The IGS has been active in the past year in a number of different international initiatives. The 2nd Meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG) took place in Bangalore, India in September 2007. Membership of this Committee is limited to GNSS system providers, with user and other non-government bodies, such as IGS, IAG and BIPM as Associate Members. Our community gave particular emphasis to standardisation of reference frame (space and time), as well as standards for GNSS ground sites. A Reference Frame WG will be initiated in the ICG, led by IGS/IAG. The 3rd full meeting of the ICG will take place in Pasadena in December 2008. The 33rd IGS Governing Board meeting will also be held at that time. The IGS, in particular all European GB members, played a leading role in the geodesy and orbits sessions at the First Colloquium on Scientific Applications of the Galileo Programme, held in Toulouse in October 2007. - JoG special issue A special issue of the Journal of Geodesy devoted to the IGS is in preparation, with Prof. Chris Rizos as chief editor. Agreed contributions are due this month. I would like to sincerely thank all participants and supporters of the IGS for all that was achieved in the past year. All best wishes for 2008! John M. Dow Chair, IGS Governing Board