The International Association of Geodesy (IAG) is a constituent association of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics focusing on the science which measures and describes the Earth's shape, its rotation and gravity field.

History

The precursors to the IAG were arc measurement campaigns. The IAG was founded in 1862 as the Mitteleuropäische Gradmessung (Central European Arc Measurement), later became the Europäische Gradmessung (European Arc Measurement) in 1867, the Internationale Erdmessung (Association Geodésique Internationale in French and "International Geodetic Association" in English) in 1886, and took its present name in 1946.

Overview

At present there are 4 commissions and one inter-commission committee:

International Services

The twelve IAG Services are split into three general topic areas: geodesy (IERS, IDS, IGS, ILRS, and IVS), gravity (IGFS, ICGEM, IDEMS, ISG, IGETS and BGI) and sea level (PSMSL). The Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) is the observing arm of the IAG that focuses on proving the geodetic infrastructure to measure changes in the earth's shape, rotation and mass distribution. The International GNSS Service (IGS), part of GGOS, archives and processes GNSS data from around the world. IGS data is used in the 2021 reference frame (G2139) of WGS84.

Journal

IAG sponsors the Journal of Geodesy, published by Springer.

Awards

The IAG's awards for outstanding achievement in geodesy include the Guy Bomford Prize (inaugurated in 1975), the Levallois Medal (inaugurated in 1979), and the IAG Young Author's Award (inaugurated in 1993).

General references