[25 May 2009] IERS issues Call for Proposals for a restructured GGFC: The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) of IAG has published a Call for Proposals (CfP) for a restructuring of the Global Geophysical Fluid Center (GGFC). Deadline for submission of proposals is August 15, 2009. The proposed new structure is shown in Figure 1b of the CfP.
While the current structure of the GGFC (see http://www.ecgs.lu/ggfc/) is not facilitating progress towards an Earth system approach, the proposed new structure is bringing the GGFC even further away from considering the Earth system as a whole and predicting geodetic parameters as the output of Earth system processes. The restructuring solidifies the separation of atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial hydrosphere and ignores the interconnection of these three Earth system components through the global water and energy cycle. Thus, the proposed restructuring is in opposition to the recommendations of the GGOS 2020 Book to make progress towards a Earth system approach. By distributing the predictions of loading and geocenter contributions over the various Earth system components, it will be nearly impossible to ensure consistency of the various loading and geocenter products (another GGOS 2020 recommendation) and mass conservation in the global water cycle.
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