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IERS Message No. 263                                   December 22, 2014
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GGOS Session at EGU General Assembly


Dear Colleagues -

As part of the EGU General Assembly that will be held in Vienna, Austria
during 12-17 April 2015 there will be a session on "The Global Geodetic
Observing System: Unifying Geodesy in General and Height Systems in
Particular". The description of the session is given below.

On behalf of the conveners I would like to draw your attention to this
session and encourage you to participate in it. We are developing a rich
session that will explore the integration of legacy and next generation
geodetic stations into a global geodetic observing system, and that will
include presentations on the creation of a unified height system,
including progress and plans towards establishing a global vertical
reference equipotential surface and a vertical datum based upon a
gravimetric geoid. We hope that you will be able to join us in Vienna
for this exciting session. More information about the EGU General
Assembly 2014 can be obtained from its web site at
<http://www.egu2015.eu/>.

Please note that the deadline for submitting abstracts is 07 January
2015.

Hope to see you in Vienna!

Best regards,
Richard


G2.1: The Global Geodetic Observing System: Unifying Geodesy in General
and Height Systems in Particular

The IAG's Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) provides the
fundamental ground- and space-based geodetic observations needed to
improve our understanding of the Earth's variable shape, rotation, and
gravity. GGOS is forming a comprehensive geodetic observing instrument
that unifies and integrates the hitherto separate pillars of geodesy
(shape, rotation, and gravity) into one consistent observing system.
GGOS is also pursuing the unification of existing local height systems
into a global world height system. This session is a forum for
discussing past, present, and future geodetic observing networks, the
integration of the technique-specific observing networks into a unified
geodetic observing system, and the use of the system for improving our
understanding of the dynamic Earth. Presentations are particularly
sought on the creation of a unified height system, including progress
and plans towards establishing a global vertical reference equipotential
surface and a vertical datum based upon a gravimetric geoid.

Conveners:

Richard Gross
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
richard.gross [at] jpl.nasa.gov

Erricos Pavlis
Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County and NASA/GSFC
epavlis [at] umbc.edu

Michael Sideris
University of Calgary
sideris [at] ucalgary.ca

Daniela Thaller
Bundesamt fuer Kartographie und Geodaesie
Daniela.Thaller [at] bkg.bund.de


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