GGOS is the Global Geodetic Observing System and was initiated in July 2003. It is a component of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), which is the organization responsible for the advancement of Geodesy. The IAG and therefore GGOS are parts of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG).
GGOS works together with the IAG Components – technical services, commissions, inter-commission-committees and IAG-projects – for monitoring the Earth system and global change research. GGOS is the metrological basis for all global change research and for essential questions dealing with global deformation and mass exchange within the System Earth consisting of solid Earth, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and cryosphere. Since April 2004, IAG is a Participating Organisation of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and GGOS is the geodetic contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). In November 2011, GGOS also became an Associate Member of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). GGOS contributes the geodetic component of GEOSS. It provides: (1) the reference frames required for all location-dependent observations and thus contributes to the foundation of most Earth observations, and (2) the measurement of the time-variable shape, gravity field, and rotation of the Earth, and thus contributes to the Earth observation database. GGOS is also a fundamental element in the implementation of the United Nations’ Resolution on the Global Geodetic Reference Frame (UN-GGRF) for Sustainable Development, adopted at the UN General Assembly on February 26, 2015. Consequently, IAG and GGOS face important actions within the Sub-Committee on Geodesy of the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).
What is GGOS?
