Standing Groups
Current Standing Groups
IACS Standing Group on Glacier And Permafrost HAZards in mountains (GAPHAZ)
IACS liaison: Lauren Vargo
The Standing Group is also affiliated with the International Permafrost Association IPA.
Annual reports: 2020, 2022, 2023
Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G) Steering Committee
IACS liaison (Advisory Board Chair): Mohd Farooq Azam
IACS is part of the GTN-G Steering Committee. The IACS Division Head for Glaciers is always the chair of its Advisory Board.
GTN-G is a framework for internationally coordinated monitoring of glaciers jointly run by the the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative, and the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS).
The Steering Committee’s goals are to coordinate, support, and advise the WGMS, the NSIDC, and the GLIMS initiative concerning the monitoring of glaciers and ice caps. The GTN‐G Steering Committee consists of:
(a) an Executive Board that is responsible for (i) the development and implementation of the international observation strategy for glaciers and ice caps, (ii) providing standards for the monitoring of glacier fluctuations (e.g., length change, mass balance) and for inventories, and (iii) the compilation and distribution of such information in a standardized form, and
(b) an Advisory Board that is to (i) support, (ii) consult, and (iii) periodically evaluate the work of the Executive Board and its three operational bodies concerning the monitoring of glaciers.
The GTN-G Executive Board includes:
– At least one representative of the WGMS
– At least one representative of the NSIDC
– At least one representative of the GLIMS coordinating institutions
– At least one representative of related IACS working groups
The GTN-G Advisory Board includes:
– IACS Division Head for Glaciers (Chair)
– At least one representative of data producers (field observations)
– At least one representative of data producers (remote sensing)
– At least one representative of data users (glaciological community)
– At least one representative of an international umbrella organization (e.g., GCOS, ISC, UNEP, UNESCO, WMO)
GTN-G Terms of Reference
Previous standing groups
Standing group on Volcano-Ice Interactions (2010-2019)
The Commission was tasked with promoting research and interest in the complex interactions of magmas and ice in all its forms (snow, firn, ice and meltwater), on Earth and other planets. In 2020 a new joint IACS-IAVCEI Commission on Volcano-Ice Interactions was formed.