FROM: Lawrence MYSAK, President of IAPSO
OPEN LETTER No. 3 • December 2008
Â
MOCA-09, SCOR, and IAPSO Visibility
Â
Dear IAPSO Colleagues:
As you know, we are soon approaching the abstract deadline for MOCA-09 (see
www.moca-09.org), namely 23 January 2009. We strongly encourage you to
submit your abstracts for this joint assembly well before the deadline, and to pass
on this message to your colleagues. We have scheduled 21 exciting joint
IAMAS-IAPSO-IACS symposia, as well as 10 IAPSO-only symposia on a variety
of physical, chemical and biogeochemical topics for the week 20-24 July, 2009.
In addition, there are 18 IAMAS and 6 IACS symposia. In the next few days, lists
of the plenary and invited speakers will be posted on the conference website for
your perusal.
Â
A highlight of the conference will be the presentation of the fifth Prince Albert I
Medal of IAPSO to Professor Harry Bryden of Southampton University, UK, in
recognition of his fundamental contributions to understanding the ocean's role in
the global climate system. The Medal ceremony and Prince Albert I Memorial
Lecture will take place on the morning of 22 July. We hope you will be able to
attend this event.
Â
IAPSO continues to actively participate in SCOR programs and meetings. This
October, Johan Rodhe, IAPSO Secretary General, and I attended the SCOR 50th
Anniversary Conference in Woods Hole, MA, as well as the annual meeting of
SCOR National Members. In the attachment, you will find a full report of these
meetings. However, I would like to especially draw your attention to item 4 of this
attachment, which notes that a new joint SCOR/IAPSO Working Group (WG) has
just been approved. It is entitled OceanScope, and the WG is under the
leadership of Tom Rossby from URI, USA. The long-term goal of OceanScope is
to help the Merchant Marine to put in place an observing system to regularly
monitor the physical, chemical and biological properties of the global surface and
subsurface ocean. The formation and IAPSO support of this WG nicely fits into
one of the priority areas that were described in the IAPSO Strategy Document,
which I spoke about in my Open Letter No. 2 (November 2007).
Â
Current SCOR/IAPSO WGs 127 (Thermodynamics and Equation of State of
Seawater) and 129 (Deep Ocean Exchange with the Shelf) have been very
successful, and their accomplishments will be presented at MOCA-09. In
particular, WG 129 has produced an extensive bibliography of DOES-related
papers, which is accessible on the following website:
http://www.mth.uea.ac.uk/~h080/WG129.classified.bibliography2.doc
Â
IAPSO and IUGG, our parent organization, continue to be challenged by visibility
and financial issues. Unlike SCOR, which has substantial NSF (USA) as well as
ISCU support (and hence can hire a full time Executive Director), IAPSO has
limited funds and no permanent staff. However, I am very grateful to the
extensive work being performed by our Secretary General Johan and the support
that he has received from Gothenburg University. Among other things, this
support has enabled Johan to produce an attractive IAPSO pamphlet and a new
IAPSO website set up in Sweden. I am sure that all of you have seen both, but
we would welcome comments on how these might be improved in the future.
In order to promote the visibility of IAPSO further, we shall continue to work
closely with SCOR and IUGG. I learned from the last IUGG executive meeting
that IUGG is exploring the possibility of a name change to reflect the increasing
role of the biogeosciences in the geophysical/earth sciences. A name change
may also affect the names of some of the sister organizations of IUGG.
On a historical note, Fred Camfield, the IAPSO Treasurer and Archivist, has
informed me that he has a number of proceedings of earlier IAPSO assemblies.
If you would like any of these proceedings, please contact Fred, who will be
happy to send them to you on a cost-recovery basis.
Â
Looking into the future, please note that the next IUGG General Assembly will
take place in Melbourne, Australia, for the period 27 June - 8 July, 2011. In the
new year, I would like to hear your ideas for IAPSO symposia at this assembly.
Your suggestions can then be discussed at the General Business Meeting of
IAPSO, scheduled for 22 July, 2009 at 8.30.
Â
In 2013, IAPSO will hold its next solo assembly, or perhaps have an assembly
joint with another association of IUGG. Our Secretary General is currently
working on a proposal for this assembly, and I will report on these developments
in the new year.
Â
I look forward to hearing from you, and I send you best wishes for the holiday
season.
Â
Sincerely yours,
Lawrence A. Mysak
President, IAPSO
and Canada Steamship Lines Professor
Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
McGill University
805 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montreal, QC H3A 2K6
Tel: 514-398-3768 FAX: 514-398-6115
E-mail: lawrence.mysak@mcgill.ca
website: http://www.esmg.mcgill.ca
IAMAS-IAPSO-IACS Joint Assembly-2009: http://www.moca-09.org
|