[IGSMAIL-5370]: Re: [GGOS-14] GGOS now official member of IGOS-P

[Hans-Peter Plag <hpplag @ unr.edu>]

******************************************************************************
IGS Electronic Mail      30 May 08:31:40 PDT 2006      Message Number 5370
******************************************************************************

Author: Hans-Peter Plag

Dear Colleagues,

in his mail reporting on GGOS being accepted as partner in the
Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership (IGOS-P),
Markus Rothacher kindly thanked me for the effort I put into the
establishment of a relationship between GGOS and IGOS-P.
It is true, it was some effort: Since 1998, when I had the chance to listen
to a presentation on the then emerging Partnership, I have 'advertised'
IGOS and IGOS-P in the geodetic community, realizing that this
Partnership would take a leading role in Earth observation and the
building of global observation systems. And since several years, I have
similarily 'advertised' the work of the IAG Services and, more recently,
GGOS to the Earth observation community outside of geodesy, namely,
IGOS-P and GEO.

But the reason for GGOS being accepted as partner in IGOS-P is not my
little contribution. The sole reason is the extremely good work you all
have been doing in the frame of the IAG Services and GGOS. Again and
again, when I presented the geodetic contribution to Earth observation in
various meetings, I have received very positive feedback on the work done
by the geodetic community. With your support for and contributions to the
IAG Services, you all  have made it very easy for me to convince the
partners in IGOS-P, the United Nations' agencies, space agencies,
funding agencies, scientific organisations, and the global observing 
systems,
that GGOS is a partner equal to the other observing systems such as GCOS,
GTOS, and GOOS. Not only that, having gained more insight into the state
of global Earth observation I dare say that the IAG Services and GGOS
are in many aspects in an advanced position in terms of organisation,
level of service, products, and continuity, and increasingly in a
position to be a role model for others.

It is an honor for me to represent GGOS in IGOS-P. I would
like to thank you very much for the good work that makes it a pleasure.

With my best regards

Hans-Peter Plag
Vice-chair of the
GGOS Steering Committee

Prof. Markus Rothacher wrote:
> ****************************************************************************** 
>
> GGOS Mail                23 May 15:19:21 PDT 2006      Message Number 14
> ****************************************************************************** 
>
>
> Author: Markus Rothacher
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I am very glad to announce that this morning, 23.05.06, during the
> 13th IGOS-P meeting in Geneva, GGOS was officially accepted as a member
> of IGOS-P. I think that this is really great news for GGOS and IAG
> and I would like to thank all those that contributed to make this
> happen, especially Hans-Peter Plag for his continuous effort
> in this direction and Gerhard Beutler for supporting this activity.
>
> In addition, as a second piece of very good news, IGOS-P has agreed that
> GGOS develops its own theme on "Earth System Dynamics". The proposal
> for a theme of our own (geodesy) was very positively received by the
> members of IGOS-P and found considerable support. The next step will
> therefore be to make an official theme proposal to IGOS-P. This
> certainly means a lot of work and will require contributions from
> all of you, but it will considerably increase the visibility of all our
> work ...
>
> With best regards,
>                            Markus Rothacher
>                            Chair of GGOS
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Prof. Dr. Markus Rothacher              Phone : ++49-331-288-1101
> GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ)      Fax   : ++49-331-288-1111
> Dept.1: Geodesy & Remote Sensing        E-mail: rothacher @ gfz-potsdam.de
> Telegrafenberg A17
> D-14473 Potsdam / Germany