2015 IAPSO Activities
INTRODUCTION
IAPSO has the prime goal of "promoting the study of scientific problems relating to the oceans and the interactions taking places at the sea floor, coastal, and atmospheric boundaries insofar as such research is conducted by the use of mathematics, physics, and chemistry." IAPSO works mainly through 1) biennial scientific assemblies; 2) working groups; 3) commissions; 4) services and 5) website information. Of special importance to IAPSO is to involve scientists and students from developing countries in the oceanographic activities
IAPSO maintains formal liaison with other scientific commissions and committees. These include the ICSU's Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), and UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
ADMINISTRATION
The IAPSO office has been situated at Gothenburg University, Sweden until June 2015, and the day-to-day business has been managed by the Secretary General (SG) Johan Rodhe, Sweden. In July 2015 the IAPSO office moved to the Institute of Marine Science of the National Research Council of Italy, Trieste and since then the day-to-day business has been managed by the newly elected SG, Stefania Sparnocchia.
The new Bureau of IAPSO comprises the President, Denise Smythe-Wright, the Past President, Eugene Morozov, the SG, Stefania Sparnocchia and the Treasurer, Ken Ridgway. The SG is responsible for the IAPSO website and in July, 2015 a new IAPSO page was created in the Facebook social network, with the aim of facilitating the spreading of information in the community (see https://www.facebook.com/iapso.iugg.org ).
In 2015, there were four IAPSO business meetings and meeting of the EC during the IUGG General Assembly in Prague. Other IAPSO discussions were maintained by means of e-mail communication.
ACTIVITIES
The principal activity during the year was the participation in the IUGG General Assembly in Prague (IUGG 2015), Czech Republic, from 22 June to 2 July. The meeting was characterized by the central theme: "Earth and Environmental Sciences for Future Generation". The Assembly attracted over 4200 participants from 90 countries covering all five inhabited continents. Almost 5400 contributions out of more than 5700 submissions were presented (more than 2200 as posters) in a total of 202 symposia and workshops, divided into 639 sessions. IAPSO contributed to the 26th IUGG General Assembly 2015 by organizing 13 IAPSO only symposia and 11 interdisciplinary symposia. 345 scientists registered as IAPSO participants with 446 oral or poster presentations.
During IUGG 2015 in Prague, Emeritus Professor Toshio Yamagata from University of Tokyo and Director of Application Laboratory, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), was awarded for the Prince Albert I Medal for "his ground-breaking work and exceptional contribution to our understanding of El Niño/Southern Oscillation and the newly discovered Indian Ocean Dipole". The Award ceremony took place on June 29, during which Prof. Yamagata gave the Albert I Memorial Lecture.
The Eugene LaFond Medal 2015 was awarded to Dr. Sana Ben Ismail from Tunisia for her oral presentation "Surface circulation features along the Tunisian coast (central Mediterranean sea): the Atlantic Tunisian current" delivered within the IAPSO symposium "Physics and Biogeochemistry of Semi-Enclosed and Shelf Seas" during the IUGG 2015 General Assembly. The Award ceremony took place at the Closing ceremony on July 1.
IAPSO is now organizing the IAPSO-IAMAS-IAGA Joint Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa, from 27 August - 1 September, 2017. A first meeting for planning was held in Prague, involving IAPSO, IAMAS and IAGA officers and a further meeting was held by videoconference on October 2015. Information about the conference will be posted at http://www.iapso-iamas-iaga2017.com/.
IAPSO maintains formal relations with the ICSU's Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). Every year the IAPSO EC is involved in the evaluation of Working Group proposal to be funded by SCOR in the next years. Moreover, President Denise Smythe-Wright participated in the SCOR General Meeting in Goa India, 6-9 December 2015. One important issue during the meeting was the decision about which working groups to fund.
IAPSO sponsored activities
Commission on Mean Sea Level and Tides (CMSLT), President: Gary T. Mitchum. Vice-President: Simon Holgate. Website: www.psmsl.org/
Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level, hosted by Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, UK. Director: Dr. Lesley Rickards. IAPSO Liaison: Philip L. Woodworth. Website: www. www.psmsl.org/
IAPSO Standard Seawater Service, hosted by OSIL, Havant, Hampshire, UK. Director: Paul, Ridout; Website Website www.osil.co.uk
Joint Committee on the Properties of Seawater, JCS (with SCOR and IAPWS). Chair: Rich Pawlowicz. Vice-Chairs: Trevor McDougall, Rainer Feistel. Website: http://www.teos-10.org/
IAPSO/IASPEI/IAVCEI Joint Tsunami Commission. Chair: Dr. Vasily V. Titov. IAPSO Representative: Efim Pelinovsky. Website: www.iaspei.org/commissions/JCT.html
The working groups, commissions and services report to IAPSO. These reports are published on the IAPSO website http://iapso.iugg.org/working-groups
IAPSO Liaison Officers and IUGG Commission Correspondents
The newly appointed/confirmed Liaison Officers and Correspondents to Commissions and Committees for 2015-2019 are as follows:
UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC): Stefania Sparnocchia (Italy)
I CSU Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR): Denise Smythe-Wright (UK)
ICSU Regional Office for Africa (ROA): Isabelle Ansorge (South Africa)
Climatic and Environmental Changes (CCEC): Harry Bryden (UK)
Mathematical Geophysics (CMG): Adam Monaham (Canada)
Geophysical Risk and Sustainability (GRC): Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade (USA)
Data and Information (UCDI): Ira Didenkulova (Estonia)
Working Group on History (WGH): John Gould (UK)
Members of IAPSO Executive Committee (EC) for 2015-2019
President: Dr Denise Smythe-Wright (UK); Secretary General: Dr Stefania Sparnocchia (Italy); Past President: Dr Eugene Morozov (Russia); Treasurer: M.App.Sc. Ken Ridgway (Australia); Vice Presidents: Dr Isabelle Ansorge (South Africa); Dr Trevor McDougall (Australia); EC Members: Dr Agatha de Boer (Sweden), Prof Toshiyuki Hibiya (Japan), Dr Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade (USA and Puerto Rico), Dr Chris Meinen (USA), Dr Satheesh Chandra Shenoi (India), Dr Hans van Haren (The Netherlands).