************************************************************************ IERS Message No. 110 February 21, 2007 ************************************************************************ GGOS Session at the IUGG General Assembly Dear colleagues, We would like to draw your attention to the session GS005 with the title "The Global Geodetic Observing System" at the IUGG General Assembly, July 2-13, 2007, Perugia, Italy. The web site for the conference is: http://www.iugg2007perugia.it The deadline for submitting abstracts is February 28, 2007 Your contributions to this session are very welcome. The session description is given below. With best regards, Markus Rothacher, Ruth Neilan, Hans-Peter Plag GS005: The Global Geodetic Observing System Sponsoring Association: IAG The helplessness felt in the wake of recent natural disasters (the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, flooding in New Orleans, etc.) has made it abundantly clear that our understanding of the complex Earth system and our tools for the timely detection of potentially disastrous events are rather limited. Therefore, gaining deeper insights into the processes and interactions of this system is one of the most urgent challenges facing society. Earth observation is fundamental for advancing our understanding, and a global Earth monitoring system is high on the agenda of a large number of countries. The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) has been set up by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) as the geodetic contribution to such a global Earth monitoring system providing, in particular, the metrological and reference system basis for all Earth observing systems. GGOS represents an umbrella for the products derived by the IAG Services using the space geodetic techniques (VLBI, SLR/LLR, GNSS, DORIS), altimetry, InSAR, gravity missions, and in-situ measurements etc. allowing for the monitoring of the Earth system with an unprecedented accuracy of less than one part in one billion. This session will focus on all major issues concerning GGOS: contributions are very welcome dealing with the design of a future GGOS (networks, communications, data portals, innovative observation technologies and analysis methods, new satellite missions, early warning systems, ...), the combination of different space- and ground-based geodetic observation techniques including common modeling and parameterization standards for all techniques, the integration of models for Earth's deformation, variations in Earth's rotation and temporal changes in the gravity field, the study of mass transport phenomena in the Earth system and their observation and modeling, and the progress being made by the IAG services towards GGOS. ************************************************************************ IERS Messages are edited and distributed by the IERS Central Bureau. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please write to . Archives: http://www.iers.org/iers/publications/messages/ ************************************************************************