Volume 74 ∙ Number 1 ∙ February 2000 Journal of 74 1 Geodesy The International Association of Geodesy Geodesist’s International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Handbook Union Géodésique Et Géophysique Internationale Le Manuel Bureau Central de l’Association Internationale de Géodésie du Department of Geophysics Juliane Maries vej 30 DK-2000 Copenhagen Oe Géodésien Denmark Editor: 2000 Ole B. Andersen 1 FOREWORD AVANTPROPOS Ole B. Andersen Every four years, after every General Assembly, the Manuel du Ge ode sien, nume ro spe cial du ``Journal of International Association of Geodesy publishes the Geodesy'' (anciennement Bulletin Ge ode sique). Ceci est Geodesist's Handbook as a special issue of the Journal la 6eÁ me edition de ce document de crivant l'Association of Geodesy (previously the Bulletin Ge ode sique). This is Internationale de Ge ode sie. the 6th edition of this Geodesists handbook describing La premieÁ re partie de crit l'AIG (historique, statuts et the International Association of Geodesy. re glement). La seconde partie est un compte-rendu de la The ®rst part describes the IAG itself (history, sta- XXIIeÁ me Assemble eGe ne rale, tenue aÁ Birmingham tutes and by-laws). The second part is a report of the (Juliet, 1999, Grande Bretagne). La troisieÁ me partie XXIIth General Assembly, held in Birmingham (July, de crit en de tail la composition et l'organisation de l'As- 1999, UK). The third part describes in detail the struc- sociation Internationale de Ge ode sie pour la pe riode ture and organization of the International Association 1999±2003. La quatrieÁ me partie pre sente des informa- of Geodesy itself for the 1999±2003 period. The fourth tions scienti®ques lieÁ es aÁ la Ge ode sie. La dernieÁ re partie part presents scienti®c information related to geodesy. contient l'annuaire de l'AIG comportant les noms et The last part contains the IAG Directory listing the adresses des personnes lie es aÁ l'Association Inter- names and addresses of persons related to the Interna- nationale de Ge ode sie. tional Association of Geodesy. Permettez-moi de remercier ici toutes les personnes I would like to thank all the individuals and in- qui ont fourni les informations publie es dans le Manuel stitutions, who provided the information to be included du Ge ode sien 2000 et qui ont pris le temps d'envoyer in this Geodesist's Handbook 2000 and took the time to des corrections et de relire les documents de cet ouv- send corrections or proof-read documents from this rage. Je voudrais tout particulieÁ rement Bureau Central volume. I would especially like to thank the IAG Central de l'AIG (C.C. Tscherning and H. Hansen) pour Bureau (C.C. Tscherning and H. Hansen) for helping me m'avoir aider aÁ compiler la totalite des informations compiling the necessary information. utiles. Most of the information contained in this volume is La majorite des informations publie es dans cet also available on the IAG Central Bureau Web pages ouvrage sont aussi disponibles sur le serveur Web du Bureau Central de l'AIG http://www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag http://www.gfy.ku.dk/~iag At these Web pages you will always ®nd the most recent version of the documents appearing in the Geo- Ces dierentes pages web renferment l'ultime livree desists Handbook, as well as other relevant information du ``Geodesists Handbook'' ainsi que d'autres im- to geodesy. portantes informations pour la communaute geode- sienne. Corrections and updates to the Geodesist's Hand- book will be published regularly in the IAG Newsletter, Les corrections et remises aÁ jour du Manuel du as part of the Journal of Geodesy. Ge ode sien seront publie es re gulieÁ rement dans la News- letter de l'AIG, au sein du ``Journal of Geodesy''. In this issue the ``Geodetic reference system 1980'' article by H. Moritz is found as well as the most recent Ce numero contient en plus de l'article de H. listing of parameters of common relevance of astron- Moritz intitule ``Geodetic reference system 1980'', la omy, geodesy and geodynamics by E. Groten. derniere version des principaux parametres utiles a l'astronomie, la geodesie et a la geodynamique de E. Tous les quatre ans, apreÁ s chaque Assemble eGe n- Groten. e rale, l'Association Internationale de Ge ode sie publie le 2 What is the IAG? K.P. Schwarz ± Honorary President Department of Geomatics Engineering, The University of Calgary, Canada 1. The IAG in the Framework of International the space age. It also resulted in severe ®nancial limita- Science tions compared to the original arrangement, see Tardi (1963) for details, a drawback which has severely limited The International Association of Geodesy (IAG) is a the capability of the IAG to fund research initiatives. scienti®c organization in the ®eld of geodesy. It pro- motes scienti®c cooperation and research in geodesy on The IUGG was part of a new structure, called the a global scale and contributes to it through its various ``International Research Council (IRC)'', that provided research bodies. It is an active member of the Interna- a common roof for research across the whole spectrum tional Association of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) of science. It was formed in 1919 and replaced in 1931 by which itself is a member of the International Council for the ``International Council of Scienti®c Unions Science (ICSU). (ICSU)'', due to controversies about the discrimination against scientists from speci®c countries. ICSU armed The IAG has a long and distinguished history that the rights and freedom of scientists throughout the goes back to 1862, the year, in which the ``Mit- world to engage in international scienti®c activity and teleuropaÈ ische Gradmessung'' was established. This or- has consistently taken a strong stand for non-discrimi- ganization was formed to promote scienti®c work in nation ± a stand that is supported by all its members. In geodesy in Central Europe, following a proposal made a 1998, the name of the Council was changed to ``Inter- year earlier by J.J. Baeyer (1861). In 1867, the name of national Council for Science'', while maintaining the the organization was changed to ``EuropaÈ ische Grad- acronym ICSU for the organization. ICSU promotes messung'', because by then countries from all of Europe ``international scienti®c activity in the dierent branches had joined the organization. In 1886, the name was of science and their applications for the bene®t of hu- changed to ``Internationale Erdmessung'', emphasizing manity'', see ICSU (1999). This objective is implemented the need for international cooperation to solve the sci- in a number of dierent ways, as for instance by coor- enti®c tasks of geodesy. The French and English trans- dinating major international and interdisciplinary re- lations of this name resulted in the current name search programs, by creating interdisciplinary bodies, ``International Association of Geodesy (IAG)''. Thus, which undertake activities of interest to several member the IAG as an international scienti®c organization goes bodies, and by addressing issues of common concern to back to 1886 and is one of the oldest international or- all scientists. ICSU has two categories of membership: ganizations of this kind. For details on the early history Scienti®c unions are international and organized along of the Association, see Perrier (1939), Tardi (1963), scienti®c disciplines, while academies or research coun- Levallois (1988), and Torge (1993). cils are national and multi-disciplinary in nature. Cur- rently, there are 25 members of the ®rst type and 95 of The initial charter of the Association required that the second. In addition, there are 28 scienti®c associates. the funding of the organization be renewed every 10 years by agreement of the participating countries. In In Figure 1, a simpli®ed diagram is used to show the 1917, this did not happen because of the First World IAG and the IUGG in their relation to ICSU. The War. After the hostilities ended, the former IAG was IUGG is one of the 25 unions of ICSU and consists of restructured and became part of the ``International seven associations. Besides geodesy, the following dis- Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG)''. As the ciplines of geophysics are represented by associations: name IUGG indicates, geodesy was not seen any longer Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IAS- in isolation but as a partner of geophysics. This opened a PEI), Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior much wider arena of interdisciplinary research and (IAVCEI), Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA), proved to be a major advantage when geodesy entered Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS), 3 Figure 1: IAG in the framework of ICSU Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), and Physical Sciences of 2. IAG Research Objectives and Organizational the Oceans (IAPSO). Joint research between the IAG Structure and the other associations has considerably increased since space methods have become a major tool. Cur- Research Objectives rently, it is especially strong with IASPEI, IAMAS, and IAPSO. Some of this interaction is channeled into spe- The main objectives of the IAG as stated in the ci®c organizational structures, but much of it comes Statutes (I,2) are: about by scientists cooperating on topics of mutual in- terest. This cooperation has been strongly encouraged ± to promote the study of all scienti®c problems of by the IUGG which promotes inter-association sympo- geodesy and to encourage geodetic research; sia at its general meetings where results of interdisci- ± to promote and coordinate international coopera- plinary research can be presented. tion in this ®eld, and promote geodetic activities in developing countries; Over the more than hundred years of its existence, the ± to provide, on an international basis, for discussion role of the IAG within the framework of international and publication of the results of the studies, research science has considerably changed.