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6 PROJECT UNIGRACE (UNIFICATION OF
GRAGITY SYSTEMS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN
EUROPE)
A new project on Unification of the Gravity Systems in
Central and Eastern Europe was lately launched by the CE1
Section C. The Project will provide benefits for (1) geodesy
for the definition of a unique height system and for the
determination of the geoid in Europe as well as for sea level
variation studies, (2) metrology to transfer to Central and
Eastern Europe the gravity standard for precise determination
of weight and related instrumentation and to improve the
testing methods and the level of agreement between
laboratories, (3) geophysics for the definition of a unique
European reference for geophysical investigations. The project
consists in establishing the absolute gravity traverses from the
Baltic Sea to Adriatic and the Black Sea. Ten absolute gravity
intraplate and seven tide gauge stations will be measured in
12 countries: Austria (Graz), Bulgaria (Sofia, Burgas), Croatia
(Zagreb, Dubrovnik), Czech Republic (Pecny), Finland
(Metsahovi), Germany (Wettzell, Rostock), Hungary (Penc),
Italy (Trieste), Poland (Jozefoslaw, Wladyslawowo), Romania
(Gilau, Constanta), Slovakia (Modra Pesky), Slovenia
(Bogensperk). As intraplate stations mainly permanent GPS
stations were chosen, as tide gauge points the stations with
long series of sea level observations. Twelve countries
participate in the Project, two non-CEI countries (Finland and
Germany). The gravity observations will be made by five
absolute meters from Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy/France
and Poland. The meters will be compared at the stations in
Sevres, Wettzell and in Jozefoslaw. First observation campaign
was organised in 1998, the second one is planned for 2000. The
realisation of the Project was also accepted by European Union
(programme INCO COPERNICUS).The First UNIGRACE
Working Conference was held in Frankfurt a. Main (Germany)
on 2-3 February 1998. All organisational and logistic problems
were discussed and the time schedule of actions was accepted.
The Second UNIGRACE Working Conference was organised
in February 1999 in Warsaw (IG&GA WUT). Another
gravimetric workshop was organised by Bundesamt fur
Kartographie und Geodasie, Frankfurt/Main in Fulda on 11-12
October 1999 with the aim to discuss the results achieved by all
absolute gravimeters during the 1998 campaign. The results of
observations of all gravimeters made at the stations of
Sevres/Paris, Jozefoslaw/Poland and Wettzell/Germany were
compared. The Third UNIGRACE Working Conference will be
organised by Bulgaria in Sofia in April 2000. The last working
conference concluding the realisation of the Project will be held
in fall 2000 in Trieste/Italy.
7. PROJECT UNIHIP (UNIFIED NATIONAL HIGH
PRECISION GPS NETWORKS IN CENTRAL
EUROPE)
This is a new project proposal initiated lately by Hungary; it
consists in an international cooperation among the operators
of the precise GPS geodynamic national networks of Austria,
Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
The national geodynamic networks in these countries, such as
AGREF in Austria, GEODYN in the Czech Republic, HGRN
in Hungary, SAGET and EXTENDED SAGET in Poland and
SLOVGERENET in Slovakia were developed in the early 90-
ties. The international coordination indicated in the project
will involve synchronised GPS observations, unified
databases structure, standardisation of formats and processing
techniques, quality assessment and quality assurance. The
product of the project will be a virtual large scale research
infrastructure in Central Europe which will attract scientists
and students from many disciplines, such as geophysics,
geodesy, earthquake research, large scale industrial
development projects etc. The initiative is coordinated by I.
Fejes, Hungary.
8. WORKING GROUP ON UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
STANDARDS
The Section C Working Group on University Education
Standards is chaired by Profs. Kazimierz Czarnecki/Poland
and Florian Vodopivec/Slovenia. This group organised
successfully three international GPS meetings: in 1996 an
"International Symposium on Education in GPS Application
to Geodesy and GIS" and in 1997 a symposium "International
Symposium on DGPS in Engineering and Cadastral
Measurements Education and Practice", both organised by F.
Vodopivec in Ljubljana/Slovenia. Next action of this group,
a Summer Seminar "Education in GPS Application to
Geodesy and GIS/LIS", was organised in June 1998 Grybow,
Poland (organiser: K. Czarnecki). Participants from Austria,
Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia attended
the Seminar. It was recommended that in the next years the
training on GPS techniques and applications for the
international student groups would be organised in Grybow,
Poland. The participants from all 16 CEI countries are invited
to attend the training meetings. First international seminar will
be organised in 2000.
9. CEI SECTION C WORKING GROUP ON
SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
In view of a great development of navigation systems (various
geodetic real time and postprocessing positioning techniques,
DGPS, DGLONASS etc.) in many CEI countries the Section
C has decided to establish a new Section Working Group on
Satellite Navigation Systems. The Chairman of this Working
Group was elected Prof. Dr. Stanislaw Oszczak (Poland), the
Co-Chairman - Prof. Dr. Giorgio Manzoni (Italy). First
working meeting of this international group was held in Nice
(France) in April 1998 on the occasion of the EGS General
Assembly and the EGS Symposium "Geodetic and
Geodynamic Achievements of the CEI (Central European
Initiative)". Next meeting organised by this Working Group
was held in Trieste, Italy on 9 March 1999, jointly with the
Workshop on „DGPS and GLONASS techniques and
application on safety (transport safety, rescue services,
landslide monitoring etc.) in CEI area” (organiser: G.
Manzoni). The Workshop was attended also by the
representatives of the European Commission Brussels Office
and Directorate of the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite
Systems). Further activities of this Working Group, and in
particular actions initiated by Prof. G. Manzoni are also worth
mentioning, e.g. a new project proposal “No border DGPS in
view of Galileo” presented at the CEI Economy Forum held
in Prague in November 1999; also this session devoted to
DGPS and GLONASS procedures in the CEI area is
organised by Prof. Manzoni.
10. COOPERATION BETWEEN CEI SECTION C
"GEODESY" AND EGS (EUROPEAN
GEOPHYSICAL SOCIETY) SECTION 2
"GEODESY"