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IERS Message No. 6 March 19, 2001
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IERS' Global Geophysical Fluids Center (GGFC) and Special Bureaus Websites
Going to Business
The Global Geophysical Fluids Center has made public its official Internet
Website , located at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, with an Europe mirror site in Strasburg, France
(an Asian mirror site is under preparation). The
seven Special Bureaus (SB) can be readily linked.
The SBs, under the coordination of GGFC, have the responsibility of
supporting, facilitating, and providing services to the worldwide research
community, in areas related to the variations in Earth rotation,
gravitational field and geocenter motion that are caused by mass transport
in the geophysical fluids. The geophysical fluids of the Earth system
include the atmosphere, ocean, solid Earth, and core, and geophysical
processes associated with tides and hydrological cycles. The time variation
of angular momenta and the related torques, gravitational coefficients, and
geocenter shift will be computed for all geophysical fluids based on global
observational data, and/or products from state-of-the-art models some of
which assimilate such data. The computed quantities, algorithm and data
formats will be standardized. The results will be archived and made
available to the scientific research community. The SBs will maintain
individual data archives and services. The Websites are the main conduits
for these services.
The present organization of the Global Geophysical Fluids Center is:
GGFC
Head: Benjamin F. Chao
Space Geodesy Branch, Code 926
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
e-mail:
SPECIAL BUREAUS
ATMOSPHERE (SBA)
Head: D. A. Salstein
Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER)
OCEANS (SBO)
Head: R. S. Gross
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
TIDES (SBT)
Head: R. D. Ray
GSFC Laboratory For Terrestrial Physics (LTP)
HYDROLOGY (SBH)
Head: C. R. Wilson
University of Texas (UT)
MANTLE (SBM)
Head: B. F. Chao
GSFC Laboratory For Terrestrial Physics (LTP)
CORE (SBC)
Head: V. Dehant
Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB)
GRAVITY/GEOCENTER (SBGG)
Head: M. M. Watkins
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
For more detail please see:
Chao, B. F., V. Dehant, R. S. Gross, R. D. Ray, D. A. Salstein, M. M.
Watkins, and C. R. Wilson, Space geodesy monitors mass transports in global
geophysical fluids, EOS, Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union, 81, 247-250, May 30,
2000.
A PDF file of this article is posted on the GGFC Website (see above),
courtesy of AGU. Hard-copy reprints are also available by contacting any of
the people above.
Several GGFC business meetings (some open to public) as well as
co-sponsored technical special sessions have been held at international
conferences. The upcoming open meeting will be held at EGS2001 Assembly
in Nice (on Thursday, March 29, 2001, 6 pm, Room M11 of Congress Center),
in association with Geodesy Symposium G3, "Time variable geodetic
parameters and global geophysical fluids processes".
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Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao
Head, Space Geodesy Branch, Code 926
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
phone: 301-614-6104, fax: 301-614-6099
e-mail: chao@bowie.gsfc.nasa.gov
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