You are here: / / / / / News and Activities

News and Activities

GGOS IberAtlantic (GGOS IA) functions as a regional node of GGOS, focusing on geodetic activities across the Iberian Peninsula and the Atlantic region. GGOS IA fosters collaboration among geodetic institutions while promoting scientific research and technological development tailored to the region’s unique geophysical characteristics.

Nature Research Award for Driving Global Impact

earth globe glass hand
Nature Research Award for Driving Global Impact

Science is critical in solving global challenges.  In 2021 Nature invites applications from early career researchers (please see criteria below) working in these areas:

  • Food security, water security and/or energy security – ensuring a long term, sustainable supply of either food, water or energy.
  • Healthcare interventions – the assessment, improvement or promotion of human health.
  • Environmental protection – protection of the natural environment on land and water including the repair of damage.
  • Climate change – slowing climate change and adapting to what’s unavoidable.
  • Sustainable cities – building green, liveable cities that last.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants must:

  • Be employed by a university, research institute or any other not-for-profit organisation.
  • Hold a PhD or clinical doctorate, one of which awarded not earlier than 1st January 2006.
  • Lead an independent research group established within the past 5 years as of 1st January 2021.
  • Demonstrate the application, or potential application, of their research to make a positive impact on one of the global challenges above.
  • Dates may be adjusted in the case of maternity leave(s) or other formal leave(s) of absence taken before the application deadline to adjust for the duration of the leave taken.
  • The reference date for calculation of the eligibility period should be the date of commencement of the first independent research project led by the team leader named in the application. In practice everyone who commenced such a position after 31st December 2015 is eligible. This period will be extended in the case of maternity leave(s) or other formal leave(s) of absences taken after the 1st January 2006 and before the application deadline with the duration of the leave taken.ű

For more information please visit the Award’s website at https://www.nature.com/collections/ccjnyjxvmp/apply

Author: Sz. Rózsa

New Height of Mount Everest

Mount Everest© Martin Jernberg by unsplash

The new height of Mount Everest refers to the International Height Reference System (IHRS), a major enterprise of GGOS.

In December 2020, the Chinese and Nepalese Governments announced the new height of Mount Everest. Heights are usually determined with respect to the mean sea level registered at a tide gauge. Depending on the geographical location of the tide gauge and the time interval considered for averaging the tide gauge records, the height reference level may vary up to 2 m worldwide. Thus, referring the height of a point to different mean sea levels produces different height values for the same point.

The International Association of Geodesy (IAG) and its Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) are intensively working on the establishment of a global unified height system that supports the height determination with respect to one and the same reference level worldwide. All concepts needed for this goal are grouped under the International Height Reference System (IHRS) and its establishment is a major enterprise of GGOS (Focus Area Unified Height System).

A prominent example of the importance of the IHRS is the recent height determination of Mount Everest in 2020. Referring this height to the Chinese height system or to the Nepalese height system would produce different values, making difficult to decide which one is the appropriate one. To avoid discrepancies, the Chinese and Nepalese Governments agreed to refer the new Mount Everest’s height of 8848.86 meter to the IHRS,

see https://web.archive.org/web/20240525020026/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/08/c_139573400.htm.

Author: Laura Sánchez

Mission Earth

Book: Mission Erde© Springer - Angermann et.al.
Tracking down Geodynamics and Climate Change
with Satellite Geodesy

 

How does your cell phone know where you are right now? How is our planet changing due to geodynamic processes and progressing climate change? How can these changes be measured precisely from space in order to acquire reliable information about the melting of ice sheets or the threat to coastal regions from rising sea levels?

Four geodesists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) provide answers to these and many other socially relevant questions in the new popular science book “Mission Earth: Tracking down Geodynamics and Climate Change with Satellite Geodesy“. The book aims at interested nonprofessionals who want to learn more about our fascinating planet, but also at experts in natural sciences. You are taken on an exciting journey from the first measurements in ancient times until the satellite era, which is providing us with a global view of our planet. Illustrative examples demonstrate how deeply global positioning and navigation with satellites pervade our daily life, and which fundamental contributions geodesy provides for improving our understanding of the system Earth and monitoring the impacts of climate change.

The book will be published in February 2021 by Springer (German edition).

More Information:

Book: Mission Erde