[IGSMAIL-2106] 10th IGS Governing Board Meeting

[G.]

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IGS Electronic Mail      Fri Dec 18  7:47:16 PST 1998      Message Number 2106
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Author: G. Beutler
Subject: 10th IGS Governing Board Meeting

Dear Colleagues

The 10th IGS Governing Board Meeting took place on Sunday, December 6,
1998 in the Argent Hotel in San Francisco. It was a one-day meeting where
the work performed during 1998 was reviewed and where, last but not least,
important decisions were taken concerning the future of the IGS.

Let me briefly comment some of the more important agenda items of the
Governing Board meeting.

Central Bureau Report
---------------------
Ruth Neilan, director of the IGS Central Bureau, pointed out that 1998 was
a very important year for the IGS Central Bureau. The restructuring
process, which took place in response to the IGS retreat in December 1997,
resulted in the creation of the position of a deputy director. Dr. Angelyn
Moore was selected to fill this position. Among other duties she is also
responsible for monitoring the performance of the entire IGS Network. She
started working for the IGS on October 1, 1999. She could attend the IGS
Network Workshop in Annapolis in November and she is now coordinating the
efforts to remove residual discrepancies in the IGS site/station
information.

It is also of greatest importance that Ruth Neilan, Director of the IGS
Central Bureau, is now able to devote about 80% of her time to the IGS (as
opposed to about 30% in previous years). The Governing Board, the Chairman
in particular, are very much pleased with this development.

On the more technical side it was noticed that the information available on
the web Central Bureau Information System (http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/) as
much improved.  Much information concerning the IGS and its components is
readily available in user friendly form.

Ruth could also present the 1997 IGS Annual Report (Part one), a document
which was very much appreciated by the Board.  The pre-print hardcopy of
the the second part of the report, containing again lots of important
technical information, could also be presented.  The first part of the
annual report is in the mail now and is sent to everyone in the IGS
Directory.  Both documents are available on the CBIS web site since
late-November.


Analysis Center Coordination: Transition Phase
----------------------------------------------
Dr. Jan Kouba, IGS Analysis Coordinator since 1993, attended his last
Governing Board meeting as IGS Analysis Coordinator. He reported (among
other technical issues) about the transition phase of Analysis
Coordination from the Geodetic Survey Division (GSD) of Natural Resources,
Canada (NRCan) to the CODE Analysis Center in Bern. Starting with January
1, 1999 Tim Springer from the CODE Analysis Center will be the new IGS
Analysis Coordinator. He was appointed by the Board upon recommendation of
the IGS Analysis Centers one year ago at the 8th IGS Governing Board
Meeting.

Jan reminded the Board that Analysis Coordination is a vital part of the
IGS guaranteeing consistency, reliability and robustness of IGS products
on the one hand, and insuring close cooperation and "esprit de corps" of
the IGS Analysis Centers on the other hand.

The transition phase is being handled in a very careful way. Jan Kouba is
a guest of the CODE Analysis Center for six months to work with Tim
Springer to make the transition very smooth. Moreover, Yves Mireault from
GSD/NRCan visited CODE for two weeks in October to facilitate the transfer
of programs and computer-scripts. The transition of sending out the
combined rapid and final products from NRCan to CODE will take place mid
December (this will be announced by IGS mail). It is expected that roughly
the same performance will be maintained. NRCan will continue to operate as
a back-up combination center at least till the end of January. In this way
problems should be avoided. In the case that problems should show up these
may be sorted out in the last two months of Jan's visit in Bern (he will
stay in Bern till the end of February 1999).

The agenda item was closed by the presentation of an "IGS-Diploma" thanking
Jan for his leadership and significant contribution during his time as
coordinator. The long lasting applause clearly indicated that Jan's work
was very much appreciated by the Board.

Network Systems Workshop
------------------------
Ruth Neilan and Carey Noll presented a short report about and the
recommendations of the IGS Network Workshop which took place in the first
week of November 1998 in the Historic Inns of Annapolis.  The network
workshop considered a success and the Chairman thanked Carey Noll for
hosting the workshop, and the scientific organizing committee (consisting
of the Central Bureau, members of the IGS infrastructure committee and
additional essential persons) for the excellent preparation of the
workshop.  It was argued that a follow up workshop should be organized in
the near future (in 1999?) to follow up on the recommendations drawn in
Annapolis.

The Governing Board took notice of the draft of twenty recommendations
(R1-R20) of the IGS Network Workshop and asked the Central Bureau to come
up for the next Governing Board meeting with a final list of
recommendations and action items emerging from these recommendations for
approval by the Board. Many recommendations are being addressed on a
technical level and need not be addressed by the Board.

IGS Site Identification Codes
-----------------------------
One important issue that was discussed by Analysis Centers, at the
Annapolis workshop, and by the infrastructure committee is related to the
"four character identification" of IGS stations (resp. space geodetic
stations). A proposal by Werner Gurtner to the Governing Board was
available to the Board and was briefly discussed at the meeting.

It was acknowledged by the Board that one (exactly one) definition has to
be found making it easy for an "average user" of such data to find out
what the precise status (reliability, quality, IGS status, ITRF status,
etc.) of data and site is. Discussions still continue, however, on the
technical level.  This was why the Chairman asked the Central Bureau to
make one more attempt to come up with ONE proposal acceptable for Analysis
Centers, Data Centers, Central Bureau, and Network representatives within a
time period of about one month.  Should this group come up with a unique
solution, the Governing Board will "stamp" the solution as the IGS official
four character ID.  Should it not be possible to come up with one proposal,
TWO alternative proposals should be made available to the IGS Board Members
two weeks prior to the next meeting.  The Board would then decide which
proposal to select as the official IGS solution.  This solution will then
be adopted by all IGS components.

Status of IGS Working Groups and Pilot Projects
-----------------------------------------------
The Central Bureau made available reports from the working groups
currently active. The Chairman concluded that

 - the IGS/BIPM Project on Time Transfer (with Jim Ray and Gerard Petit as
   co-chairs),

 - the IGS Ionosphere Working Group (with Joachim Feltens as Chair),

 - the CSTG/IGS/ION Working Group on GLONASS (with Pascal Willis as Chair)

 - the IGS Working Group on the ITRF Densification (with Geoff Blewitt and
   Jan Kouba as co-chairs), and

 - the IGS Infrastructure Committee

were very active in 1998 and that all except the ITRF Densification
Working Group should continue with their work. The

 - IGS LEO Working Group (with Mike Watkins as Chair)

suffered from LEO-missions that were delayed or did not work according to
expectation. It is expected that this group will become very active in
preparation of the 1999 LEO workshop in Potsdam and that many action items
will emerge from this workshop. A first announcement for the workshop was
already sent out, more information will follow.

According to the adopted IGS Working Group Charter short reports have to
be prepared by all working group leaders, membership lists have to be
updated, new chairpersons may be proposed, etc. Such reports were
available for the first time at the 10th IGS GB Meeting -- but (as it was
expected) there was no time to really look at these reports in some
detail. Clearly, another way of dealing with the working group reports has
to be found in future.

According to the adopted new Terms of Reference and its "bylaws" the IGS
Central Bureau will have to set up (on an annual basis) special meetings
or sessions for addressing these questions. The Chairman proposed that at
Analysis Center Workshops one session (corresponding to perhaps one
half-day) might be reserved for that purpose. The proposal found general
approval. It was also stated, however, that the Central Bureau is
responsible for coming up with a solution.

Establishment of "IGS Reference Frame Coordination"
---------------------------------------------------

The chairman could tell the Board that the Geodetic Survey Division (GSD)
of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) answered positively to the Chairman's
proposal for the creation of an "IGS Reference Frame Coordinator" position
at NRCan (letter dated November 18, 1998 from Denis Hains, Director of
GSD).
Jan Kouba was asked to coordinate together with Remi Ferland, who is the
proposed Chair of this new IGS Project, the development of a charter
for this IGS Project, and to come up with a membership list
(according to the rules specified in the document "IGS POLICY FOR THE
ESTABLISHMENT of IGS PROJECTS and WORKING GROUPS"). The Board indicated
that it will formally approve the creation of this project --
provided all requirements are met. The Chairman asked Jan Kouba to thank
Remi Ferland and Denis Hains of GSD for their willingness to continue
contributing to the IGS in such a substantial way.

The Chairman and the entire Board are convinced that this new involvement
of NRCan in the IGS Work will be of vital importance for the future.
Consistency of IGS coordinates and velocities with IGS Earth Rotation
Parameters (possibly other parameters as well in future) are key issues in
the technical domain, close cooperation of this Coordination Center at
NRCan with the IGS Central Bureau, the IGS Global Network Analysis Centers
(GNAACs) and with the ITRF Section of the IERS are the relevant keywords
in the political domain.

Creation of the Troposphere Working Group
-----------------------------------------
It was already decided at the 9th Governing Board Meeting that an IGS
Troposphere Working Group should be created with Dr. Gerd Gendt from GFZ
in Potsdam as Chairman. Gerd Gendt was asked in Summer 1998 to prepare the
required documents according to the rules stated in the paper "IGS POLICY
FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT of IGS PROJECTS and WORKING GROUPS". These documents
were available in time before the meeting. The Board could thus
unanimously approve the documents received and the Chairman asked Prof.
Chris Reigber to forward the best wishes to Gerd Gendt for the future work
within this group . Charter and membership list are available in the
designated subdirectory of the CBIS.

IGS Terms of Reference
----------------------
The IGS Terms of Reference were revised during 1998. The revised version
of the Terms were unanimously accepted at the meeting. These new terms
will be available at the CBIS in the immediate future. There were
substantial changes. Let me summarize only few of the important
modifications:

 - The IGS Central Bureau is the executive arm of the IGS Governing Board,

 - IGS Working Groups and Pilot Projects are clearly defined,

 - the way of how to become an IGS Analysis Center is defined,

 - IGS Working Group and Pilot Project Chairs are non-voting members of the
   IGS Governing Board,

 - A simple mechanism was put into place to replace Governing Board members
   resigning before the end of their term

 - The Analysis Coordinator now is always a voting member of the Governing
   Board.

 - Review processes for essential IGS Components are defined.

Just as an anecdote I would like to mention that the paragraph on
"resigning GB members"  was motivated by Jan Kouba's request to resign
from the Governing Board by the end of this year. This resignation was not
accepted  by the Board and the Chairman, however. The latter pointed out
that this decision should not be viewed as an atrocious act by the Board
or its Chairman. Jan then agreed to serve till the end of his term as
elected Analysis Center representative till the end of 1999. So, the
paragraph is of no consequence for the time being, but might become
relevant in future.

Election of next Chair of the IGS Governing Board
-------------------------------------------------
It was announced several times that the current Chairman of the IGS will
resign by the end of 1998. This is why a nomination procedure was invoked
in fall 1998. In order to be on the safe side, and because he was the only
Governing Board member NOT eligible, the current Chairman offered to
conduct this nomination procedure himself. This procedure generated a
short list of very valuable candidates. An open and frank discussion
including all candidates and Governing Board Members revealed that there
would be only one candidate available, who was then asked to leave the
meeting room.

The acting IGS Chairman briefly sketched the impressive scientific and
management profile of the candidate and summarized the significant

contributions of the candidate's agency to the IGS. It was pointed out in
particular, that the proposed Chairman would be in an excellent position
to deal with the challenges associated with the upcoming LEO missions
involving GPS and also IGS in one way or another.

This is why Prof.  Christoph Reigber from the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) in
Potsdam was was elected by unanimous acclamation by all members of the IGS
Governing Board.  The "old" Chairman invited Prof.  Christoph Reigber to
join the meeting again, congratulated the newly elected Chairman, and
wished him good luck for the first four years of chairman-ship from 1999 to
2002.

Prof. Chris Reigber accepted the election and promised to act as Chairman
to the benefit of the entire IGS community.

This concluded the 10th IGS Governing Board Meeting.

Celebration and Thanks
----------------------
It is always hard to find the right words at the end of a long working day
-- particularly if this working day is a Sunday, and even more so if this
is St. Nicolas day. I would like to assure everybody who "found some
words" at the public celebration following the Governing Board Meeting
that the words were well received and very much appreciated.

In Europe children obtain presents on St. Nicolas day if they behaved well
in the previous year, they receive a (symbolic) whip if this was not the
case. On this particular St. Nicolas day I had the honor of receiving many
flattering, but also cordial words and many gifts from friends and
colleagues. So, one might conclude that some people believed that I was
"well behaving" as Chairman, first of the IGS Oversight Committee
(1991-1993) and then of the IGS Governing Board (1993-1998). Thank you all
very much!

For me personally the IGS Chairman-ship was a challenge, a burden, an
honor, and, last but not least, also a pleasure. I enjoyed the fruitful
collaboration with the IGS Governing Board, the IGS Central Bureau, with
Ruth Neilan in particular, the IGS Coordinator Jan Kouba, the IGS mentor
Ivan Mueller, the IGS Working Group Leaders, and the entire IGS Community.

I am looking forward to become a "normal" member of the IGS Governing Board
-- just like Jan Kouba and Ivan Mueller, who was the Chairman of the IGS
Planning Committee. Ivan, Jan and I consider to found a "club of IGS
fossils" with the logo "this would never have happened when we were still
(mentally) active ...".

I wish the new Chairman and all IGS Components all the best for the future.

                                                 Merry Christmas and a
                                                    Happy New Year

                                                    Gerhard Beutler,
                                               Chair, IGS Governing Board
                                                (till 31 December, 1998)


[Mailed From: beutler at ubeclu.unibe.ch (GERHARD BEUTLER)]