*************************************************************************** IERS Message No. 8 April 23, 2001 *************************************************************************** IERS Conventions Product Center Beginning 1 January 2001, the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) and the U. S. Naval Observatory (USNO) are working together to provide the Conventions Product Center (CPC) of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). The CPC has committed itself to the IERS to (1) Edit the IERS Conventions, continuously maintaining the documents in electronic form and making available an updated printed version at the request of the Directing Board, (2) Maintain software in electronic form compatible with the IERS Conventions, (3) Examine the consistency of the procedures used by the IERS analysis centers with the adopted conventions and study the impact of possible inconsistencies on the IERS products. The first goal of the CPC is to complete the new edition of the IERS Conventions, known as Conventions 2000. Following this, efforts will be devoted to implement facilities related to the electronic access including mirror sites, and techniques to update the electronic version and software. Next, the CPC intends to review the content and presentation of the IERS Conventions and how it interacts with the IERS community. Over the following years, in line with task 3 above, it is expected that studies examining the consistency of the procedures used by the IERS analysis centers will be carried out in collaboration with other IERS components. The CPC will promote such studies and proposals will be welcome. Individuals participating in the CPC are USNO: Dr. Dennis D. McCarthy, co-director of the CPC, representative to the IERS Directing Board for 2001-2003 (dmc@maia.usno.navy.mil) Dr. Thomas Johnson Mr. Brian Luzum BIPM: Dr. Gerard Petit, co-director of the CPC (gpetit@bipm.org) Dr. Elisa Felicitas Arias (farias@bipm.org) Dr. Peter Wolf (pwolf@bipm.org) ***************************************************************************