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News in 1998

The purpose of this page of the CDDIS web site is to post new items, activities, data sets, etc. of interest to the CDDIS user community. Users should also consult the list of upcoming meetings of interest to the space geodesy community.


IGS Network Systems Workshop -- First Circular (13-Jul-98)

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, through the Crustal Dynamics Data Information (CDDIS), an IGS Global Data Center, in conjunction with the IGS Central Bureau, will host the IGS Network Systems Workshop for three and one half days on November 2-5, 1998 in Annapolis, MD. The goals of this workshop include:

  • developing a closer community within the IGS infrastructure
  • strengthening communications within this community
  • improving the performance of the network
  • developing a shared vision of the future network
  • preparing a proceedings targeted along the lines of an "IGS Network Operations Plan" that would document the network operations of the IGS and future plans

A web site has been developed to provide the latest information about the IGS Network Systems Workshop. This site will also provide registration and hotel information in the near future. The URL for the workshop web site is:

http://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/igs_netws/netws_home.html.

Additional information will also be distributed through email and hardcopy in the near future.

GPS Data and Products Availability through the CDDIS (10-Jun-98)

The staff are pleased to announce that the IGS Global Data Center located at the CDDIS is now operational on our new UNIX platform. As of June 01, 1998 all GPS data archiving and processing activities have been migrated to this new computer system. The staff has been testing software on this new system for many weeks and with the help of the various IGS data centers that supply data to the CDDIS, the archive of GPS data and products has successfully been ported to the new computer. Some particulars:

  • Host name: cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov
  • Host number: 128.183.204.168
  • Access: ftp and web
  • Data on-line: Currently 150 days on two disks, soon to be ~one year
  • Products: All since GPS week 0650 in compressed format

All data and product filenames are in lower case, with the exception of the .Z indicating a compressed file.

Users should contact Carey Noll (Carey.E.Noll@nasa.gov) to obtain the username and password for this system since it is different than those for the VAX system, cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov.

As of June 1, 1998 the most timely data will be available from this new computer, host cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov. For the next few months, we will continue to maintain the archive on cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov (the VAX) by copying data from cddisa back to this system.

Many thanks go to Maury Dube of the CDDIS staff for his heroic efforts on getting this system operational. The staff would like to encourage feedback on the new system and hope the users will like using cddisa and will find the data availability more timely and the UNIX system easier to use. Users should direct any comments or questions to Carey Noll.

1998 International Symposium on Marine Positioning (30-Apr-98)

The Marine Geodesy Committee of the Marine Technology Society has organized INSMAP 98, an International Symposium on Marine Positioning that will be held the week of 30 November at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. INSMAP 98 continues the series of symposia on marine positioning which began over 30 years ago in Columbus, Ohio and was last held in 1994 at the University of Hannover. The symposium is organized to promote an international partnership in marine positioning and an understanding of its many practical applications. The 1998 meeting will be held during the United Nations International Year of the Ocean. INSMAP 98 is a unique opportunity to highlight the marine positioning agenda during this year of global focus on the ocean environment. The symposium is sponsored by the Marine Technology Society, the International Association of Geodesy and the National Ocean Service.

Topics included in INSMAP 98 are:

  • Marine Positioning Policy, Plans, Trends, Requirements
  • Measurement & Instrumentation
  • Marine & Seafloor Positioning
  • Oceanic Gravity Models and the Marine Geoid
  • Absolute and Mean Sea Level
  • Height Systems
  • Acoustics and Bathymetry
  • Ocean Mapping and Seafloor Modeling
  • Shoreline Mapping - Implications for Coastal GIS Applications
  • Standards for Marine Positioning
  • Marine Positioning Education
  • Marine Positioning in Geophysics
  • Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
  • Tides, Currents, World Ocean Circulation
  • Tsunami Prediction
  • Monitoring Global Change

For additional information on INSMAP 98 please contact:

Professor George A. Maul
Director, Division of Marine and Environmental Systems
College of Engineering
Florida Institute of Technology
150 W. University Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32901

Tel: 407 674 7453
Fax: 407 674 7212
e-mail: gmaul@marine.fit.edu

Abstracts of meeting presentations should be sent by 30 June to:

Dr. Patrick Fell
INSMAP 98 Technical Program Chairman
NSWC
Mail Stop T-10
Dahlgren, Virginia 22448-5100

Tel: 540 653 8200
Fax: 540 653 7999
e-mail: pfell@nswc.navy.mil

International Call for Participaton in IGEX-98 (09-Mar-98)

The International GLONASS EXperiment (IGEX) is an international campaign sponsored by:

  • the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Commission VIII, International Coordination of Space Techniques for Geodesy and Geodynamics (CSTG),
  • the International GPS Service (IGS),
  • the Institute of Navigation (ION), and
  • the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS).

The CSTG Subcommission on "Satellite Microwave Systems" (Chair, Pascal Willis) is coordinating the project.
Contact: Pascal Willis (willis@ensg.ign.fr)

IERS Coordinating Center for Monitoring of Global Geophysical Fluids (03-Mar-98)

At its December 10, 1997 meeting in San Francisco, the IERS Directing Board selected the NASA GSFC Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics (LTP) as the Coordinating Centre to deal with the IERS Monitoring of Global Geophysical Fluids Center (GGFC). Also selected were the various sub-bureaus. The CDDIS will provide data center support to this activity.
Contact: Ben Chao (chao@denali.gsfc.nasa.gov)

GFO-1 Satellite Launch (27-Feb-98)

On February 10, 1998 the long awaited U.S. Navy GEOSAT Follow-On 1 (GFO-1) Satellite was successfully launched by a Taurus launch vehicle at 5:20 a.m., Pacific Time, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, U.S.A. The initial orbit was 881 X 789 km at 107.9846 degrees inclination.

APSG Meeting Announcement (17-Feb-98)

The Laboratory for Marine Geosciences and Teledetection at the French University of the Pacific will host on May 12-16 in Tahiti, French Polynesia, the Second International Meeting of the Asian-Pacific Space Geodynamics (APSG) Program in collaboration with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SAO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The meeting will be held in conjunction with the dedication on May 12 of the Tahiti Geodetic Observatory on the grounds of the Laboratory.

The first circular is in preparation and will be distributed shortly.

SLR Global Performance Metrics (17-Feb-98)

During the November 1996 Shanghai SLR Workshop, Mike Pearlman presented some guidelines for high performance SLR systems. The intent was to establish metrics so that system performance could be measured and regularly reported. The metrics will provide the systems with a goal, however, these numbers are intended as a measure of minimum performance. During the November 1996 Shanghai CSTG meeting, Andrew Sinclair and Van Husson proposed that all stations provide up-to-date station configuration information. The details of the format and management of this configuration information are provided in SLRMail message #48. This report contains the configuration file status report. In addition, modifications to the normal point format were also approved earlier this year and are contained in SLRMail message #47.

Below is the current list of global performance reports cards:

  • 1997 3rd Quarter
  • 1997 4th Quarter

International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) Call for Participation (27-Jan-98)

Over the past several months, the CSTG Satellite and Lunar Laser Ranging Subcommission has been drafting the Terms of Reference and Working Group Charters for an International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) modelled after the highly successful International GPS Service (IGS).

The CSTG Satellite and Lunar Laser Ranging Subcommission and the IERS request proposals for participation in the new International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). Detailed proposals must be submitted in writing by March 31, 1998. The proposals will be jointly reviewed by a special session of the CSTG SLR/LLR Subcommission Steering Committee to be held in advance of the 23rd General Assembly of the European Geophysical Society (EGS) in Nice, France during the week of April 20-24, 1998.and by the IERS Directing Board at its 19 April 1998 meeting. Successful proposers will be notified by early June with a goal of fully implementing the new ILRS organization by November 1, 1998.

Please submit any comments by email to the SLR/LLR Subcommission Chairman, John Degnan, at jjd@ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov.