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June
2018
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Editor:
Gyula Tóth
IAG
Communication and Outreach Branch
Department
of Geodesy and Surveying
Budapest
University of Technology and Economics
H-1521 Budapest, Hungary
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Information Service of the International Association of Geodesy
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http://www.iag-aig.org newsletter@iag-aig.org
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General
Announcements. 3
To benefit society and science. 3
Indonesia Airborne Gravity Project 2018 -2019. 5
COSPAR Awards 2018. 7
Meeting Announcements. 7
Meetings Calendar. 7
IAG Sponsored Meetings. 7
IAG Workshop
on Hydrogeodesy. 7
42nd COSPAR
Scientific Assembly (with REFAG2018 and Panel on Satellite Dynamics) 7
8th
UN-GGIM Session. 8
IAU XXXth
General Assembly. 8
19th General
Assembly of WEGENER. 8
GGHS2018. 8
International DORIS Service (IDS) Workshop. 8
GGOS Days 2018. 8
SIRGAS
Symposium 2018. 8
SIRGAS
Workshop on Vertical Reference System... 8
IGS 2018
Workshop. 8
International
Workshop on GNSS Ionosphere (IWGI2018) 8
21st
International Workshop on Laser Ranging. 8
27th IUGG
General Assembly. 8
IAG Related Meetings. 8
ESA/JRC
International Summer School on GNSS 2018. 8
IX
International Symposium "Metrology of Time and Space". 9
ION GNSS+
2018. 9
EVN
Symposium and Users' Meeting. 9
AGU 2018
Fall Meeting. 9
EGU General
Assembly 2019. 9
AOGS 16th
Annual Meeting. 9
Reports. 9
EUREF Symposium 2018. 9
Obituary. 11
Jean O’Brien Dickey (1945-2018) 11
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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:
I.
news from the Bureau
Members
II.
general information
III.
reports of IAG
symposia
IV.
reports by
commissions, special commissions or study groups
V.
symposia announcements
VI.
book reviews
VII. fast bibliography
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The new geodetic Earth observatory
built by the Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA) in Ny-Ålesund, 79 degrees
north, was successfully inaugurated 6 June.
"Today we have reached a significant
milestone which will benefit society and science and bring global Earth
observations to a higher level, said Lars Jacob Hiim, State Secretary to the
Norwegian Minister of Local Government and Modernisation, in his opening
remarks to more than 150 guests.
The inauguration
of the observatory coincided with the 10th conference
of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry, IVS2018 in
Longyearbyen, and 110 delegates were invited to participate in the official
opening, and were transported to Ny-Ålesund by
boat.
"The
development of a basic global infrastructure for better Earth observation and
for better monitoring of satellites, especially in the High North, is key in
order to measure and deal with climate change. It is fundamental for our
understanding of sea level change, said Hiim.
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The Norwegian Mapping Authority's geodetic
Earth observatory in Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost facility of its
kind.
Photo: Bjørn-Owe Holmberg
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The new VGOS
twin telescopes surrounded by the Brandal lagoon, Cape Mitra and Kings Fjord,
are impressive. Each antenna measures 13.2 metres in diameter and looms 18
metres above the ground.
“Everyone who’s
worked on this project is respectful of the job being done, the environment and
surroundings we’re working in – and the fact that we’re delivering something
which will contribute to better monitoring of changes to the planet.” says Per
Erik Opseth, head of the NMA's Geodetic Institute.
The NMA's
geodetic Earth observatory is Norway's most important contribution to the
United Nations General Assembly resolution "A Global Geodetic Reference
Frame for Sustainable Development.
"Norway
takes this work seriously. Together with Australia, we chaired the subcommittee
that formulated and negotiated the UN resolution. The time has come to provide
stability and commitment to the global collaboration on basic global
infrastructure", said State Secretary Hiim.
The NMA's new
geodetic Earth observatory ranks as the northernmost facility of its kind and
is a cornerstone of the global infrastructure. It has an estimated cost of
about NOK 300 million.
Being delivered
by Germany’s MT Mechatronics and its Spanish sub-contractor Asturfeito, the
antennas were installed in 2016. Veidekke Arctic was the turnkey contractor for
the station site and the new instrumentation building. The first pile was
driven in the autumn of 2014.
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Photo: Bjørn-Owe Holmberg
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From left: Per Erik Opseth, Head of the
Geodetic Institute, NMA. Lars Jacob Hiim, State Secretary to the Minister of
Local Government and Modernisation. Anne Cathrine Frřstrup, Director General,
NMA
Photo: Bjørn-Owe Holmberg
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In August 2017
NASA and NMA signed an agreement to develop a state-of-the-art Satellite Laser
Ranging facility. The current goal is to have all systems up and running in
Ny-Ålesund by 2022.
“An SLR in
Ny-Ålesund will be important because it allows us to observe satellites
in Polar orbits,” Opseth explains.
Anne
Jørgensen
Norwegian
Mapping Authority
Background
The national
geospatial reference system used in Indonesia is the Sistem
Referensi Geospasial Indonesia 2013 (SRGI2013). It was launched in October 11, 2013, and adopts a semi-dynamic
reference system connecting to ITRF 2008 with reference epoch of January 1st,
2012. In this system, Geoid has
been chosen as the vertical reference system.
Currently, a global geoid model is available that has an accuracy of only 1
meter in the territory of Indonesia. This 1 meter accuracy is considered
insufficient for large-scale mapping. A Geoid Model with an accuracy of 20 cm
or better is required for large-scale mapping. Therefore,
to obtain a geoid model with 20 cm accuracy requires very dense and dispersed gravity data. Efforts in the
implementation of accurate geoid in Indonesia had been conducted since the 1980s and were done by measuring
terrestrial gravity. Since then, BIG has 6 relative gravimeters
consisting of 3 manual terrestrial gravimeter and 3 units of digital
gravimeter.
The terrestrial gravity data that had been collected since the
1980s do not cover whole territory of Indonesia, which are vast, consisting of
many islands and having complex topography. Airborne gravity measurement is the
best solution for obtaining gravity data for the whole country of Indonesia. Between 2008 to 2011, DTU assisted BIG to conduct airborne gravity
surveys in Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Papua Islands. To obtain 20 cm geoid for
the whole country, the remaining islands will be surveyed in two years
(2018-2019).
Project
Status
Absolute
Gravity Survey
In 2017 BIG purchased an absolute gravimeter
(A10) and from 48 established benchmarks 23 of them have been measured.
Currently, the equipment is undergoing maintenance. The mobilization of A10
across the country has been the major issues and hopefully, the remaining BM’s
can be completed by the end of 2018. Locations of gravity control points can be
seen in Figure 1.
Airborne
Gravity Survey
In 2018, BIG is purchasing GT2A from Canadian
Micro Gravity (CMG). Airborne gravity measurement will cover all of Sumatera’s
main land, Nias, Mentawai , Bangka and Belitung, and Riau Islands. While
purchase is undergoing and can take several months, Ministry of Interior
through NCTU of Taiwan allows BIG to use their S-130 for the first stage of the
airborne gravity surveys (July – August 2018). Flight plans can be seen in
Figures 2 and 3. Line spacing is set to 8 nautical miles, slightly denser from
the previous project.
Remarks
As a complex nation geographically, with more
than 17,000 islands, a robust method for data collection as well as for
computing geoid model are necessary to produce a seamless vertical reference
system. We welcome supports, suggestions or other materials for our project to
be successful.
Acknowledgement
Special thanks to Taipei Economic and Trade
Office (TETO), Jakarta, Indonesia and
Indonesia Economic and Trade Office (IETO), in Taipei; Ministry of Interior,
ROC and NTCU; and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Indonesia for
supporting this airborne gravity survey.
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Figure 1. Gravity Control Network.
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Figure 2. Survey Flight Plan 2018.
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Figure 3. Survey Flight Plan 2019.
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Hasanuddin Z. Abidin
Head of
Geospatial Information Agency (Badan Informasi Geospasial) of Indonesia
Committee on Space
Research (COSPAR) announced Awards 2018 to be presented on 15 July during the
42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly 14 - 22 July 2018, Pasadena, CA, USA. Please
find a press release detailing awards to be bestowed at https://cosparhq.cnes.fr/sites/default/files/press_release_cospar_awards_2018.pdf.
Aaron
Janofsky
Associate Director
Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)
June 29-30, 2018, Wuhan, China
URL: http://hydrogeodesy2018.csp.escience.cn/
July 14-22, 2018, Pasadena, CA, USA
URL: http://cospar2018.org/
August 1-3, 2018, New York, USA
URL: http://ggim.un.org/meetings/GGIM-committee/8th-Session/
August 20-31, 2018, Vienna, Austria
URL: http://astronomy2018.univie.ac.at/
September 10-13, 2018, Grenoble, France
URL: https://wegener2018.sciencesconf.org
September 17-21, 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark
“Gravity, Geoid and Height Systems 2”
Symposium, 2nd joint meeting of the International Gravity Field Service and
Commission 2 of the IAG
URL: http://www.space.dtu.dk/gghs2018
September 24-29, 2018, Ponta Delgada,
Azores
URL: https://iag.dgfi.tum.de/en/meetings-calendar/
October 2-4, 2018, Tsukuba, Japan
URL: http://176.28.21.212/en/meetings/2018/ggos-days/general/
October 9-12, 2018, Aguascalientes, Mexico
URL: http://geoweb2.inegi.org.mx/sirgas2018/html/en/index.html
October 15-17, 2018, Aguascalientes, Mexico
URL: http://geoweb2.inegi.org.mx/sirgas2018/html/en/index.html
October 29 – November 2, 2018, Wuhan,
China
URL: https://iag.dgfi.tum.de/en/meetings-calendar/
November 4-6, 2018, Shanghai, China
URL: http://202.127.29.4/geodesy/iwgi2018/
November 5-9, 2018, Canberra, Australia
URL: http://www.iwlr2018.serc.org.au/
July 8 – 17, 2019, Montreal, Canada
URL: http://www.iugg.org/assemblies/
July 16-27, 2018, Loipersdorf, Austria
URL: https://www.esa-jrc-summerschool.org/
September 12-14, 2018, Mendeleevo, Russia
URL: http://www.vniiftri.ru/index.php/en/news/conferences/741-sym9
September 24-28, 2018, Miami, Florida,
USA
URL: https://www.ion.org/gnss/
October 8-11, 2018, Granada, Spain
URL: http://evnsymp2018.iaa.es/
December 10-14, 2018, Washington, D.C.,
USA
URL: https://meetings.agu.org/
April 7-12 , 2019, Vienna, Austria
URL: http://www.egu2019.eu/
July 28 – August 2, 2019, Singapore,
Singapore
URL: http://www.asiaoceania.org/society/public.asp?view=up_coming
The IAG Reference Frame Sub-Commission for
Europe, EUREF, symposium was held in Amsterdam 30 May – 1 June, 2018. There
were a total of 120 participants and a traditional program with five sessions,
including the National reports. The science sessions included the reference
frames, European geodetic networks, observational techniques, and applications.
During recent years, topical tutorial lectures have been organized prior the
Symposium. This year the topic of the full-day Tutorial was InSAR-geodesy
and geodetic infrastructure. InSAR is an emerging technique in geodesy, and
the interest on it and possible applications seems to be great. This was
reflected also in the presentations in the Symposium.
Another actual
topic in the Symposium was an issue with new GNSS satellite systems, foremost
Galileo. Up to now, lack of proper software has retarded applications, but this
seems to be mostly solved. However, there is another issue, affecting
especially permanent reference stations and precise positioning, both using
calibrated antennas. Antenna calibrations have been done mainly for two GPS
frequencies and Glonass.
What has been
missing is the possibility to make the calibration also for Galileo and BeiDou,
and this concern both the robot calibration and calibration in an anechoic
chamber. This was recognized in a resolution of the Symposium, where EUREF …asks
the EUREF community, GSA, ESA and the GNSS industry to support the IGS antenna
working group in order to overcome the missing receiver antenna calibrations for
Galileo signals. This information has been forwarded also to those places
who are doing the calibrations or owns equipment for it.
There was also a
resolution related to InSAR. As adopted in the Plenary, the resolution states
that EUREF …recognising the potential of collocating InSAR transponders or
reflectors with continuous GNSS stations and geodetic benchmarks, encourages
the EUREF community to start to consider the integration of InSAR technology
into reference system activities.
Being in the
home place of NAP, the Normaal Amsterdams Peil, height questions were also on
the agenda of the Symposium. A height and gravity related resolution was
adopted, where the IAG Reference Frame Sub-commission for Europe (EUREF),
recognising that physical (gravity related) heights have many important uses,
for example in European and national height systems and in studies of sea level
rise and for flood protection, and noting that precise regional gravity data
and geoid models are necessary for height determination using satellite-based
techniques, encourages National Mapping Authorities, universities and research
institutes to release their gravity and height data where this is legally
possible, and requests the EUREF Governing Board form a working group to study
the optimal application of height and gravity data. The purpose is
encourage institutes to release gravity and height data which have been more
difficult to obtain for research and practical purposes, contrary to the open
databases of GNSS data. Unfortunately legislation or adopted practicalities
restrict release of gravity and height data in many countries.
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Photo: Lennard Huisman
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The three-day
Symposium was very active, and well organized in an inspiring environment of
Amsterdam Nemo Science Museum. The social event included a memorable canal
cruise to the conference dinner. Many thanks to the local organisers for the
excellent event and great atmosphere. We welcome everyone to the 2019 EUREF
Symposium in Tallinn.
Markku
Poutanen
Chair of
EUREF
Jean O’Brien Dickey, a
pioneer geodesist expert in Earth rotation passed away on May 9 2018, in
Pasadena, California. Jean studied Physics at what is now Saint Francis
University in Pennsylvania, then completed her Ph.D. in Physics at Rutgers
University in 1976. After a postdoc at Caltech, she joined the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in 1980 and switched her interest to planet Earth. Her first
studies involved the rotation and orientation of the Earth from Lunar Laser
Ranging. She continued her work at JPL until her retirement in 2017, and stayed
on as Research Associate until her passing.
Jean studied various aspects of the exchange of angular
momentum between the solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans: from short time
scales such as the Madden-Julian oscillation, through interannual changes
associated with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, to decadal time scales,
associated with the topography of the core-mantle boundary and electromagnetic
torques imposed by the core and lower mantle. Jean also proved that a short
term increase in J2 superimposed on its long term downward trend due to Glacial
Isostatic Adjustment (J2 is a scaled version of the spherical harmonic of the
gravitational field with degree 2 and order 0) was caused primarily by a surge
in subpolar glacial melting and by mass shifts in the Southern, Pacific, and
Indian oceans.
Jean was very
active in IAG activities. In 1983 she chaired the Special
Study Group (SSG) on "Atmospheric excitation of Earth's rotation" and was a
member of the SSG on "Lunar Laser Ranging". In 1991 she was elected President of the IAG Section
5 "Geodynamics”. She was also appointed IAG representative
in the Organizing Committee of the IUGG General
Assembly 1995 in Boulder, where she was elected Second IAG Vice-President 1995-1999 and USA
National Correspondent and Delegate to the IAG Council. From 1999 to 2003 she served as a member in the IAG Special
Commission on Fundamental Parameters.
Jean chaired the National Academy of Science/NRC Committee
on “Earth Gravity from Space” in 1996-7 which provided a critical impetus for
NASA to select in open competition the GRACE mission. GRACE inaugurated a wide
range of studies of mass flow in the Earth system, especially melting of
Greenland and Antarctica, surface hydrology and even deep ocean currents. Jean was the first woman to serve as President
of the AGU Geodesy Section, from 1994 to 1995.
Jean was a Senior Research Scientist at JPL, was elected
Fellow of the IAG in 1991 during the IUGG General Assembly in Vienna, and
Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1994. She was awarded the NASA
Exceptional Service Medal in 1998 and the NASA Exceptional Scientific
Achievement Medal in 2003.
Jean is survived by two sons, two grandchildren, three
sisters and two brothers.
Susan E. Owen and Victor Zlotnicki
