Working Group I.2
International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA)

Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth

With over 1,000 people on the MTNet emailing list, Working Group I.2 of IAGA is by far the largest and most active of all WGs in IAGA. The main activity of the Working Group is the biennial Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth Workshops, initiated in 1972 in Edinburgh by Drs. Rosemary Hutton and Bruce Hobbs at the suggestion made by Professors Ashour and Kertz at the IUGG in Moscow in 1971. A brief personal retrospective by Rosemary Hutton of the workshops from 1972-1990 can be found here.

The activities of the Working Group are organized by the Working Group Committee. Scientists are nominated for vacant positions on the committee, and, if there are more nominations than vacancies, a ballot of all attendees at the Working Group meeting is held. Nominations by the committee for vacant positions take into account primarily scientific expertise as well as geographic distribution and gender of members.

A member normally serves on the committee for a term of eight (8) years. From the committee a member is chosen to be the Co-Chair for a period of four (4) years. Normally, the Co-Chair is elected to the Chair of the Working Group Committee, and holds that position for four (4) years. In addition, there are non-voting observer positions on the committee. The four ex officio standing ones are the position of Past Chair, and the positions of Chairs of the Local Organizing Committese for the previous, next and subsequent workshops. Others may be appointed as Observers when deemed necessary by the Committee.

From the perspective of the IAGA Executive Committee however, the only "officials" of the WG are the Chair and Co-Chair. The WG Committee structure and membership are internal matters for the WG, in accordance with IAGA's bottom-up policy, as stated in the IAGA statutes (see Section 1, Sub-Section 1.1 of Guidelines for IAGA Officers ).

At the WG Business Meeting of the 2000 EM Induction Workshop it was decided to move the election of the WG Committee members to the Business Meetings of the WG at the EM Induction Workshops on even years, rather than at the BMs during IUGG General Assemblies on odd years. (Hence, Pascal Tarit's term as Chair was 5 years, not 4.) This was because the BMs at Workshops are attended by 250+ delegates, whereas those at IUGG General Assemblies are usually attended by 20-30 at most. Thus, the move was made in order to give far more WG members the opportunity to participate in the democratic election of the WG Committee members.

This decision though brought the WG out of alignment with IAGA and IUGG, who elect their officials during the IUGG Assemblies. Pressure was brought to bear on the IAGA WG I.2 officials (Chair and Co-Chair of the WG) during the period 2003-2009 by the Executive Committee of IAGA to bring the WG back into alignment. This was resisted by the WG, who made the arguments about the greater democracy being exercised at Workshops rather than at IUGG Assemblies. (The May, 2009 email exchange, leading up to the 2009 IAGA Assembly, between Alan Jones and Bengt Hultqvist, then Secretary-General of IAGA, that outlines the issue and gives arguments for remaining with elections at Workshops can be read here.)

At the Sopron IAGA in 2009 a compromise process was agreed at the WG BM, and accepted by IAGA, whereby there is a separation in terms of office between the Chair and Co-Chair of IAGA WG I.2, and those of the Chair and Co-Chair of the WG Committee. From 2010 forwards, the Chair and Co-Chair of the WG Committee are elected at the BM of the Workshop in the year preceeding an IUGG, and take their place as Chair and Co-Chair of IAGA WG I.2 at the IUGG the following year, and become the Chair and Co-Chair of the WG Committee the year after that. The process is described in the Minutes of the WG I.2 BM held at the Sopron IAGA in 2009.

The procedure and timing is thus:


Working Group Committee Members: 2010-2012

Name Position Country Term Email
Yasuo Ogawa Chair Japan 2008 - 2012oga@ksvo.titech.ac.jp
Ian Ferguson Co-Chair
Next Chair (2012-2016)
Canada 2008 - 2016ij_ferguson@umanitoba.ca
Nik Palshin Publications Co-ordinator
Next Co-Chair (2012-2016)
Russia 2004 - 2016palshin@ocean.ru
Denghai Bai China 2004 - 2012dhbai@mail.igcas.ac.cn
Gad El Qady Egypt 2008 - 2016gadosan@yahoo.com
Sergio Fontes Brazil2010 - 2018sergio@on.br
Graham Heinson Australia2008 - 2016 graham.heinson@adelaide.edu.au
Gary Egbert Funding Coordinator U.S.A. 2008 - 2016egbert@coas.oregonstate.edu
Svetlana Kováciková Czech Republic 2010 - 2018svk@ig.cas.cz
Juanjo Ledo Spain 2004 - 2012jledo@ub.edu
K. Veeraswamy India 2008 - 2016 kv.swamy@gmail.com
Ute Weckmann Treasurer Germany 2008 - 2016uweck@gfz-potsdam.de
Observers - ex officio
Andreas Junge Past Chair Germany 2008 - 2012junge@geophysik.uni-frankfurt.de
El Said Ahmed Chair, LOC past workshop (2010)Egypt 2006 - 2012saidragab2001@yahoo.com
Graham Heinson Chair, LOC next workshop (2012)Australia2008 - 2014graham.heinson@adelaide.edu.au
Oliver Ritter Chair, LOC subsequent workshop (2014)Germany2010 - 2016oritter@gfz-potsdam.de
Observers - appointed
George Jiracek Funding Co-coordinator U.S.A. 2010 - 2012jiracek@moho.sdsu.edu
Laszlo Szarka IAGA EC liaison Hungary 2011 - 2015szarka@ggki.hu
T. Harinarayana EMSEV liaison India 2011 - 2015tharinarayana@hotmail.com

1995-1999 Working Group Committee
1999-2002 Working Group Committee
2002-2006 Working Group Committee
2006-2008 Working Group Committee
2008-2010 Working Group Committee
2010-2011 Working Group Committee & IAGA members


IAGA WG I.2 Chairs and Past Chairs, and their official terms

Term Name Country
1971 - 1975Ian Gough Canada
1975 - 1979Ulrich SchmuckerGermany
1979 - 1983Antal Adam Hungary
1983 - 1987Bruce Hobbs U.K.
1987 - 1991Sven-Erik Hjelt Finland
1991 - 1995Al Duba U.S.A.
1995 - 1999Alan Jones Canada
1999 - 2004Pascal Tarits France
2004 - 2008Andreas Junge Germany
2008 - 2011Yasuo Ogawa Japan
2011 - 2015Ian Ferguson Canada

Working Group I.2 is one of four working groups within Division I - Internal Magnetic Fields of IAGA

Working Group Title WG Chair WG Co-Chair
I.1Theory of Planetary Magnetic Fields and Geomagnetic Secular VariationMatthieu Dumberry Ján Šimkanin
I.2Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth Ian Ferguson Nik Palshin
I.3Palaeomagnetism Emilio Herrero-BerveraJenny Tait
I.4Rock Magnetism Quingsong Liu Neli Jordanova

Division I is one of five Divisions within IAGA - International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy

Division Title Chair Co-Chair
I Internal Magnetic Fields Gauthier Hulot Yasuo Ogawa
II Aeronomic Phenomena
IIIMagnetospheric Phenomena
IV Solar Wind & Interplanetary Field
V Geomagnetic Observatories, Surveys & Analyses

IAGA is one of eight Associations within IUGG - International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics

Acronym Name President Secretary General
IACS International Association of Cryospheric Sciences
IAG International Association of Geodesy
IAGA International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy Professor Kathy Whaler Dr. Mioara Mandea
IAHS International Association of Hydrological Sciences
IAMASInternational Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
IAPSOInternational Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans
IASPEI International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior Domenico Giardini Peter Suhadolc
IAVCEI International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior Ray Cas Joan Marti

IUGG is one of thirty unions within ICSU - International Council for Science


IAGA Home Page

The President of IAGA for 2011 - 2015 is Professor Kathy Whaler of the University of Edinburgh.
The Secretary-General of IAGA for 2009 - 2017 is Dr. Mioara Mandea of GFZ Potsdam.

IAGA publishes the IAGA News (irregularly). To get on the distribution list, contact Dr. Mioara Mandea.


IUGG Home Page

IAGA is one of the five Associations of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG).
The President of IUGG for 2011 - 2015 is Professor Harsh Gupta of NGRI, India.
The Secretary-General is Dr. Alik Ismail-Zadeh, of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

IUGG publishes the IUGG Chronicle. To get on the distribution list, contact Alik Ismail-Zadeh.


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