Message-Id: <612D1E83-4894-42D9-A364-DE97D683D8F9@cfa.harvard.edu> From: James Davis To: IGSMail Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Subject: [IGSMAIL-5996]: U.S. Long Range Science Plan for Geodesy Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 13:41:57 -0400 References: Sender: owner-igsmail Precedence: bulk ****************************************************************************** IGS Electronic Mail 02 Sep 10:42:37 PDT 2009 Message Number 5996 ****************************************************************************** Author: Jim Davis Long Range Science Plan for Geodesy October 5-6, 2009 Hilton - Salt Lake City Center Salt Lake City, Utah Over two decades, rapid advances in geodesy have opened new fields and enabled the interrogation of the kinematics, structure, and dynamics of the solid Earth and its fluid envelopes. With the continued development of advanced terrestrial and space geodetic methods, geodesy has grown rapidly and there are now crucial geodetic applications in a wide range of scientific fields, from ground water systems and fault dynamics to mapping the speed of ice flows and the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. The pace of this change is quickening, and is coupled with the recognition of this technology- driven science as a national asset in a global economy. In response to the need to articulate new and emerging research opportunities in geodesy and its interdisciplinary applications, we are planning an all day workshop in Salt Lake City on October 6, 2009. The need for a plan builds on many recent advances: (1) expanded geodetic imaging at regional and global scales, including but not limited to LiDAR, InSAR, UAVSAR, and global topography and time- variable gravity; (2) progress towards mm-level global positional geodesy and mm/yr sea level variability; (3) opportunities for studying the time-variable dynamics of Earth systems relevant to climate change; (4) availability of research, civic, and commercial real-time GPS networks around the world; (5) a burgeoning demand for TLS technology; (6) improvements in data access and analysis with web services and cyberinfrastructure; (7) the potential for expanded use of autonomous integrated geodetic and geophysical ground-based networks and space-based observing systems to study new scientific targets in new geographic settings  including the polar regions  and expand to new science disciplines; (8) new tools for ingestion and analysis of large and complex data sets; (9) new applications in research areas such as cryospheric science, atmospheric science and hydrology; (10) the potential to build on and to integrate continent- and global-scale data sets such as Plate Boundary Observatory/ EarthScope, GRACE, and the planned DESDynI mission; (11) opportunities to advance early warning with integrated geophysical data sets; and (12) community commitment to integrative scientific studies that link massive data sets to physically-based models, with direct relevance to mitigation of natural hazards, through the collection and stewardship of long-term geodetic observations. We invite your participation in a workshop that will result in a written plan in a Grand Challenges format, identifying emerging science questions, required workforce development and diversity, and needed instrumentation and facilities. This plan will inform a number of other national science planning initiatives scheduled to occur in 2010. We anticipate support from NSF, NASA and USGS for the workshop and particularly encourage broad participation in fundamental areas of geodesy as well as its applications, across the spectrum of techniques. To Apply: We encourage all scientists interested in geodesy and its interdisciplinary geoscience applications to apply for the workshop. Space is available for approximately 75 participants. Accepted applicants will be provided with support for lodging and meals, as well as air fare. The application deadline is September 8, and successful applicants will be notified by September 14. To find this announcement on the web and to apply, please go to: http://www.unavco.org/community/announce_meetings/2009/2009-Geodesy-Community-Workshop.html Jim Davis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, jdavis@cfa.harvard.edu ) Yuri Fialko (SIO/IGPP, yfialko@ucsd.edu) Meghan Miller (UNAVCO; meghan@unavco.org) Susan Owen (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Susan.Owen@jpl.nasa.gov)