[IGSMAIL-3184]: Update from the December 2000 Governing Board Meetings

[Prof. Ch. Reigber]

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IGS Electronic Mail      26 Jan 02:18:38 PST 2001      Message Number 3184
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Author: Ch. Reigber


Dear IGS colleagues,

Over the past year the IGS has again experienced great success in many
areas. The IGS continues to thrive as new applications emerge and
fundamental IGS systems and processes continually improve.  This is due
to the concerted effort of each of our contributing organizations and
individuals.  On behalf of the Governing Board, I would like to thank
each of you sincerely.

The year 2000 was also a new experience for the GB, beginning with
important changes in board membership. December 1999 saw the departure
of Ivan Mueller, Bill Melbourne, Jan Kouba and Yehuda Bock, each of
these had been members of the board since the inception of the IGS and
their collective talents greatly helped to shape the organization. For
your reference the current board members are included at the end of this
message.

The main activities this past year addressed by the GB include the
development of a strategic plan for the IGS for the coming years and a
focus on the IGS working group activities.

IGS Strategic Planning Summary

With the tremendous growth of IGS and an increase in demanding
applications it was decided at the June meeting of the GB to appoint a
planning group to coordinate a strategic planning process for the board.
The IGS is mature and diverse enough to warrant a close look at what the
focus should be over the next five years, how to achieve the key goals
and objectives that are identified, and how best to continue the success
and benefits accomplished to date. The GB is committed to complete the
IGS Strategic Plan by June 2001.

The planning group was approved by the GB in June and consists of the
following people: Norman Beck, NRCan; Gerhard Beutler, AIUB; John
Manning, AUSLIG; Bill Melbourne, JPL; Angie Moore, IGS CB; Ivan Mueller,
retired OSU; Ruth Neilan, IGSCB; Jim Ray, USNO; Chris Reigber, GFZ; and
Robert Serafin, NCAR. The Central Bureau retained an excellent planning
consultant, Haig Bazoian, to facilitate the process.

The planning committee was involved in preparation of materials with
Bazoian throughout the summer of 2000, and met as a smaller group at BKG
in Frankfurt during early September. This initial meeting was a two-day
session aimed at preparing material for a retreat with the entire GB in
December. The main points discussed were the strengths and challenges of
the IGS, the three most important strategies that should be adopted, the
IGS mission and long term objectives. This preliminary material was
distributed to the GB in October. Additional input was solicited from
each GB member and we met as a large group in Napa Valley CA on December
12 & 13, just prior to the AGU.  Additional invitees to this meeting
were Werner Gurtner/AIUB, Gordon Johnston/RACAL, David Simpson/ IRIS and
Pascal Willis/IGN.

This was a very good meeting with refinement of the strategies and
identification of actions that need to be taken over the next years.
The next steps are to complete the meeting summary and develop the draft
document of the strategic plan by March.  The GB plans its next meeting
in conjunction with the EGS in Nice March 25, 2001.  The document will
be reviewed and the IGS hopes to make a presentation to the IAG
Executive Committee later that week and gain approval of the plan.

The strategic plan discussions resulted in a broadening of the stated
missions of the IGS specifying our ‘long-term commitment to provide the
highest quality global navigation satellite systems data and products’,
reflecting IGS inclusion of GLONASS and future GNSS, such as Galileo
into the IGS GPS infrastructures.

Much discussion centered on consideration of the establishment of the
IGS as an ‘official’ international entity, the benefits of such action
and how this could improve the ability of the IGS to conduct its tasks.
Recommitment to IGS participation is envisioned and strategies for
stabilizing and acquiring agency sponsorships will be explored.

Two key strategies identified by the board include that the IGS affirm
to:
· Continuously provide users with the highest quality, reliable
  data and products, in a readily accessible manner,
· Achieve worldwide acceptance of IGS products as the
  ‘world standard’ for data and products.

These both address the vital interest in keeping the IGS on the leading
edge of this technology and encouraging broader recognition and use of
the IGS data products. This is especially important with regards to the
global reference systems and the utility of GPS and GLONASS to provide
access to the ITRF. Of course many other issues and considerations were
addressed in addition to these. The detailed plan will be will be made
available in the next few months.

IGS GB Business Meeting Summary

On Dec 14, following the two days of strategy meetings, the GB met for
its 15th official meeting. The agenda began with a wrap-up of the
two-day strategy session, defining the schedule for completing the
documents as described above.

A pivotal event this past year was the decision by Tim Springer to
resign his position as AC Coordinator. Tim was able to attend the GB
meeting and provided an excellent report on the state of IGS products.
He was presented with the IGS certificate of appreciation, noting his
long involvement and commitment to the IGS since pre-IGS days!  The IGS
is most fortunate that Prof. Beutler and his staff at the University of
Bern were able to provide an excellent candidate as Tim’s replacement,
Prof. Robert Weber. The analysis center representatives and the GB
unanimously accepted Robert. This demonstrates Bern’s remarkable
commitment to complete the next two years of the ACC term. Many thanks
again to AIUB for this perfect solution. Robert, in his new position,
was also welcomed to the Governing Board and will represent the IGS on
analysis issues. Tim was congratulated on his new position with wishes
for success being expressed by the board.

The issues of data centers for the IGS was also discussed at length
noting the increased pressure on the data flow and access as a result of
IGS sub-daily ‘Ultra’ products and moving closer to real-time processes.
It was agreed that a solution must be found to ensure back-up
capabilities and provide more efficient and timely access by the ACs to
network data. Carey Noll agreed to work with the ACC and the CB to
redefine data center requirements and processes. The IGS components and
the GB will review this in 2001 in anticipation of acquiring additional
data centers and realizing enhancements at our existing DCs.

The remainder of the time was devoted to the IGS working groups and
pilot projects. The current projects of the IGS are: IGS/BIPM precise
time and frequency project (Jim Ray/USNO and Felicitas Arias/BIPM,
co-chairs), LEO pilot project (Mike Watkins/JPL, Chair), Ionosphere WG
(Joachim Feltens/ESOC, chair), Atmospheric WG (Gerd Gendt/GFZ, chair),
Reference Frame WG (Remi Ferland/NRCan, chair), International GLONASAS
Service Pilot Project – IGLOS PP (Jim Slater/NIMA, Chair).

According to IGS policy, each WG must be reviewed every two years to
determine status of the WG, and continuance or dissolution of the
activity.  The IGS/BIPM timing project had been extended through 2001
previously, and the IGLOS-PP was approved at the June meeting of the GB.
All groups provided an update, and it was decided for the continuance of
the WGs, with additional technical and organizational details to be
considered at the next GB meetings. The progress of these groups are
contained in the annual and Technical Report series of the IGS, and
contained generally in the IGS Report series or via the IGS website.
Very soon the organizational meeting of the IGS LEO Project will take
place on Feb 6-8 at GFZ Potsdam, for more information see:
http://op.gfz-potsdam.de/D1/LEOW/LEOW_index.html

The Central Bureau noted that due to budgetary challenges, the
finalization of the 1999 report series had been delayed since
mid-summer, but should be completed very soon, with electronic versions
becoming available first.

Mike Bevis and myself discussed the formalization of a WG on sea level
monitoring with continuous GPS measurements at tide gauges and tide
gauge benchmarks. This has been a ‘seed’ initiative of the IGS since the
joint PSMSL/IGS workshop on Sea Level (see the proceedings at the IGS
website: GPS and Tide Gauge Benchmark Monitoring & GPS Altimeter
Calibration.) A proposal will be prepared for the next meeting of the
IGS GB.  Mike is the responsible chair for the IAPSO Commission on Mean
Sea Level and Tides and has established a website to further discussion
of this activity: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/cgps_tg. The Sea Level
Change Project SEAL, carried out by a number of German research
institutions (GFZ, GKSS, AWI) will put a concerted effort into GPS
monitoring of global tide gauges. An introduction to the complete
program can be found at http://op.gfz-potsdam.de/seal/. It was also
recommended at the meeting that two additional committees be formed,
reinstatement of the Infrastructure Committee and creation of a new IGS
Real Time WG.

This year also marks new elections to the GB. A nominations committee
will be established at the next GB meeting in March. The IGS Associate
Membership will be finalized by May and IGS Associates - the electing
body of the GB members - will be contacted between June and early August
for the election process. The schedule is to obtain final approval of
new or re-elected members during the IGS GB meeting at the IAG
Scientific Assembly in Budapest September 2-8. The terms expiring are
for the positions Network Representative held by Bjorn Engen; Data
Center Representative by Carey Noll, and Analysis Center Representative
by Geoff Blewitt.

The next meeting of the GB is scheduled for March 25, 2001 in Nice,
France, during the 26th General Assembly of the EGS.

One further note, it was decided to plan the next IGS workshop based on
a theme as opposed to having separate analysis and network workshops.
This is tentatively planned for early in 2002. Proceedings from the
Network Workshop in Oslo this past July and the Analysis Center Workshop
at USNO in September will be published and be available this spring. The
Network workshop proceedings will be published by Elsevier in the peer
reviewed journal publication ‘Physics and Chemistry of the Earth’; and
the AC workshop proceedings will be published by the GPS Solutions
journal.


Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year,

Regards,

Christoph Reigber


IGS GB:
Christoph  Reigber/Chair
Gerhard  Beutler/Appointed (IAG)
Mike Bevis/Appointed (IGS)
Geoff Blewitt/Analysis Center Representative
Claude  Boucher/IERS Representative to IGS
Carine  Bruyninx/IGS Representative to the IERS
John Dow/Network Representative
Bjorn  Engen/Network Representative
Joachim Feltens/Ionosphere Working Group Chair
Remi Ferland/IGS Reference Frame Coordinator
Gerd Gendt/Troposphere Working Group Chair
Tom Herring/IAG Representative
John  Manning /Appointed (IGS)
Ruth  Neilan/Director of IGS Central Bureau
Carey  Noll/Data Center Representative
Paul Paquet/FAGS Representative
Jim Ray/Precise Time Transfer Project, Chair
Markus Rothacher/Analysis Representative
Robert Serafin/Appointed (IGS)
Jim Slater/GLONASS Pilot Project, Chair
Robert Weber/Analysis Center Coordinator
Michael Watkins/LEO Working Group, Chair
Jim Zumberge/Analysis Representative

Angelyn Moore/Secretariat

--
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Christoph Reigber
GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ)
Division 1: Kinematics & Dynamics of the Earth
Telegrafenberg A 17, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany

phone: +49 (0)331 288-1100, -1101 (secr.)
fax: +49 (0)331 288-1111
e-mail: reigber at gfz-potsdam.de
www: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/