Date

Fall AGU town forum regarding the International Heliophysical Year
(IHY) and International Polar Year (IPY)
December 9, 2002 18:30-20:00
San Francisco, California

For more information about the IPY see:
http://IPY.gsfc.nasa.gov

For more information about the IHY see:
http://IHY.gsfc.nasa.gov

For further information about the town forum contact:
Leonard Johnson GLJGERG1 [at] aol.com
or
Joseph Davila Joseph.Davila @gsfc.nasa.gov

General information about the Fall Meeting of AGU is available at:
http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm02/


IPY/IHY Town Forum at the Fall AGU

The town forum will be used to inform and request input/participation
from the AGU scientific community of two synergistic and integrated
efforts which are now in the planning stages. These are the
International Heliophysical Year (IHY) and International Polar Year
(IPY) planned to commence in 2007 and run for several more. The year
2007 will be the 125th anniversary of the initial IPY and thus is
appropriate to launch another polar effort.

The International Heliophysical Year (IHY) has been proposed to obtain a
coordinated set of observations to study at the largest scale the solar
generated events that affect life and climate on Earth. The
International Polar Year (IPY) has been proposed to address the causes
and effects of climatic variability--air/sea/ice interactions and
lithosphere dynamics--evolution and history of crust and sedimentary
cover

Both endeavors will require an integrated, holistic system approach
encompassing a wide range of disciplines and new and improved
technologies for long term measurements on the seabed, in the water
column and space over all seasons with new platforms. Coordination and
collaboration with international scientific organizations such as AOSB,
SCAR, IASC, SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics)
and especially their program on Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth
System (CAWES), ICSU, and greater AGU scientific community will be
necessary.

For further information about the town meeting contact:
Leonard Johnson GLJGERG1 [at] aol.com
or
Joseph Davila Joseph.Davila @gsfc.nasa.gov

Web site for the IPY is: http://IPY.gsfc.nasa.gov

Web site for the IHY is: http://IHY.gsfc.nasa.gov