Bimbim's Team

The Europlanet Society's funding 2022 for outreach projects was awarded to Katia Pinheiro and her team for the creative project 'Bimbim's Team: A Journey to the Planets'. Bimbim's team consists of Bimbim and his various friends. The project was meant to introduce little kids to the interesting world of planets and the solar system. 

 

The project consists of 3 animated puppet movies dubbed in English, Portuguese and French. The first episode, in all three languages, about the Solar System is now available on the IAGA Youtube Channel. The subsequent two episodes are about Earth and Mars and would be out within days. Keep a look out for them on our channel. In the meantime, watch as Bimbim learns about the different planets of the Solar System!

Exploration of the Jovian system

In a month's time, the European Space Agency's (ESA) JUICE mission would be launched. JUICE is the
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer which aims to study 3 Galilean moons in an attempt to understand their internal structure.

The first measurements around Jupiter's moons were received from the Galileo mission. Galileo was launched by NASA in October 1989 and provided data from 1996 to 2003. Based on the data from the spacecraft, scientists believe that Europa, Callisto and Ganymede might have a subsurface ocean. Ganymede even has its own magnetic field while Io has active volcanoes. The data from the upcoming JUICE mission will provide further evidences to better constrain the interior of these natural satellites.

The JUICE mission is scheduled to launch on 13th April from French Guiana. It will carry 10 scientific instruments focused on understanding the Jovian magnetosphere and its interaction with the satellites. The spacecraft will revolve around Jupiter and is expected to make a total of 35 flybys providing data near the moons. During the final phase of the mission, JUICE will also orbit around Ganymede, which will give a clearer picture about its internal magnetic field.

Image Credit: ESA (Jupiter with its 4 Galilean moons- Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto).

If you are interested to know more, ask us in the comments or on our social media platforms (top left of page). You can also visit ESA's website about the JUICE mission here.

IUGG Committee Nominations

The IUGG is looking for nominations for its Bureau and Finance Committee for 2023-2027. The elections will take place at the IUGG General Assembly 2023 in Berlin happening from 11th to 20th July. The Assembly will comprise of sessions from all 8 IUGG associations.

The Union and Association officers can nominate or send recommendations to the Committee by April 11th, 2023. These nominations should be supported by officers and the acceptance by candidates with their resume. More details about this can be found in the IUGG Newsletter for March (Volume 23 No. 3) or by contacting the IUGG Secretariat. The nominating committees details can be found here.

For more details about the upcoming General Assembly, click the 'IUGG 2023 All Updates' option on 'Our Blog Series' tab on the right. Follow our social media channels (top left of the page) for news about the Assembly and other happenings in the community.

IUGG 2023: Registration options

The IUGG General Assembly 2023 in Berlin is taking place from 11th to 20th July. The Assembly will comprise of sessions from all 8 IUGG associations.

However, you are free to attend for a single day, four days or all ten days! You can chose the single and four days. To help you pick the days, the schedule according to the different associations can be found here. Registration for all is possible up until 3rd July. The early bird registration deadline is 28th April. All registrations details can be found here.

For all old and new updates about the upcoming conference, click here.

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science happened on the 11th February. Did you know, women are typically given smaller research grants than their male colleagues and, while they represent 33.3% of all researchers, only 12% of members of national science academies are women. So… let’s take a look at some of the awesome women connected to IAGA! Remember, all jobs undertaken by IAGA members are on a purely voluntarily basis alongside their full time jobs. 

Mioara Mandea is the current IAGA President, meaning that she oversees all 6 divisions of IAGA and represents IAGA on the international stage. Originally born in Romania, Mioara studied engineering and geophysics in Bucharest and Paris. Currently she works at Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, where she is head of Science Coordination in the French Space Agency. She has won multiple distinctions over her career, most recently the Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, a French order of merit awarded by the President. Her research is centered investigating the Earth’s deep inner structure from magnetic field data and has been responsible for a number of scientific advances in ground- and satellite-based observations. Among her most noteworthy contributions are her work on geomagnetic jerks, sudden changes in the magnetic field generated by Earth’s core, and on short-term variations in the magnetic field. 

Monika Korte is the current Secretary General for IAGA and assists Mioara with all administrative duties for IAGA, including overseeing the IAGA Newsletter and assemblies. Monika has been involved with IAGA leadership since 2001! Monika is German and has worked as the scientific head of the Niemegk Geomagnetic Observatory at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam. Currently, she heads the Geomagnetism section at GFZ. She specialises in modelling the Earth’s global magnetic field on historical to paleomagnetic time scales, with a particular interest in geomagnetic excursions and reversals, and separating magnetic field sources. 

Barbara Leichter is the Chair of the Interdivisional Commission on Education and Outreach. The main goal of the ICEO is to simplify international cooperation by organizing IAGA schools and workshops, international networking, encouraging young scientists, and promoting the work of IAGA to the general public. Barbara is Austrian and based at GeoSphere, Austria. She is also the Austrian Delegate of IAGA. One of her tasks is the data check of the geomagnetic Conrad Observatory in Austria, geomagnetic survey of Austria the repeat station measurements and Geomagnetic map calculations, and to keep the IAGA blog and social media team in order!

We’re so thankful for the hard work of all the volunteers in IAGA, especially the women! One thing that Wikipedian Kelly Doyle has been doing to improve the gender balance in science is by organising Wikipedia “Edit-a-thons”, where volunteers sit down to add more female entries. Less than 19% of Wikipedia biographies in English represent women. We can’t wait for the day when there is no need for promoting these brilliant women anymore.

Volunteer Activities at IUGG 2023

The IUGG General Assembly 2023 will take place between 11th and 20th July in Berlin, Germany. While it is a great opportunity for researchers to showcase their work, there is also an opportunity for younger students to understand how conference and research works.

IUGG is looking for volunteers to help manage the conference site. They will be required to work for 4 days based on their interest. To know more about the process and to apply, please visit here. It is also a great chance to visit the historic city of Berlin.

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

IUGG Assembly 2023

The 28th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) will take place from 11-20th July 2023 in Berlin, Germany. All the 8 associations under IUGG, including IAGA, will be a part of it and have separate and joint scientific as well as outreach sessions.

The scientific program for the conference can be found on the website. In particular, the IAGA sessions are listed here, which include the joint sessions with other associations.

The abstract submission and early bid registration have already started. The deadline for the two are 14th February and 28th April respectively.

There are also travel grants available and visa information for countries which require one. Please visit the assembly website or leave your questions below in the comments in case of any query. We'd be happy to answer them.