December 21, 2007
Dear PORSEC Association Members!
This is a short greeting to let you know the status of our activities. For the last 6 months I have let the Bulletin of the PORSEC Association take the place of the Newsletters and that will mostly be the practice in the future, but here comes a request for your help with the membership list and to attract more members.
It is now just one year before the PORSEC 2008. You can start preparing for your trip to Guangzhou by requesting travel funds for yourself and for your students and associates. More information about PORSEC 2008 will be presented in Vol.1 issue 3 of Bulll. PA . The South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (SCSIO) will host the 2008 PORSEC, Dec 2-5, 2008. (We are discussing adding another day, plus tutorials, workshops and courses that will add some extra days for those who will participate in the extra activities.) Contact person is Dr. Dan Ling Tang, email: <lingzistdl at 126.com>
The Bulletin of the PORSEC Association Volume 1, Issue 3, will be appearing within a month. I hereby also solicit short articles for Issue 4 (March 2008) on subjects that you would like to share with your PORSEC colleagues. We are open also to receiving Letters to the Editor regarding any concern about our science or the organization that you feel need airing. Please submit your material to katsaros at porsec.nwra.com or to Gad Levy at gad at porsec.nwra.com by Feb 20, 2008. These articles will not be peer reviewed and should be short.
Contents of Bull PA Vol. 1 No. 3 includes: Call for Papers to PORSEC 2008 (Dan Ling Tang); Remote Sensing of Far Wakes of Ships: A Study Using a Network of Volunteer Observing Ships (A. Soloviev); Call for nominations to Executive Offices of the PORSEC Association (Th. Pankajakshan), A note about the Arctic sea ice situation (J. Comiso), a note about a one week tour of a few remote sensing institutions in China that we did not know before (W. Timothy Liu and K. Katsaros) and more.
The Special Issue of peer-reviewed articles based on the PORSEC 2006 is nearing completion. It will appear in the International Journal of Remote Sensing. Gad Levy is the Editor with J. Gower contributing as Associate Editor. We have a number of papers already accepted and a few still in revision.
MY CURRENT REQUEST:
We need your “coordinates”, that is your information for our membership directory. There will be a membership form for you to fill out on our web page. You will get a separate email message with the URL. The form will also have instructions and options for paying your membership dues. Please take a moment to do this. Some of you filled in this form at the PORSEC 2006 when you paid your fee, but we did not ask about your professional title, position, and the full name of your institution (only the address) and that would still be useful to know. If you would be so kind, please provide that information. The data will be entered into a proper database and used to inform prospective donors about our membership and what professions and countries are represented, and will also be available for members willing to interact professionally with other members.
We need everyone to pay up their membership fees. It gives us some operating funds. We have established the PORSEC Association as a non-profit corporation in the State of Washington, U.S.A. and have a PORSEC Association bank account with U.S. Bank. Since it is very costly to transfer money internationally (minimum of $10 per transaction), we have opened an internet account with Paypal that will allow you to send in your membership fee for 2006-2008, if you did not pay up at the PORSEC 2006. All folks who claim membership in the PORSEC Association ought to have a paid up membership. You can also donate money to the PORSEC Association. Such funds will be well used for student scholarships and travel to the next PORSEC. You can direct us how to use your contribution. In the U.S. such contributions would be tax-deductible. (* If you find it difficult to pay right now by check or Paypal, we will be glad to get your pledge now and will then collect the funds in Guangzhou in December, 2008.) The special membership web form that you will be asked to fill in January will have instructions and options for payment.
We also need some major support from institutions or foundations. Ideas for this aspect are welcome. We would like to have a fund to support students and speakers for 2008. We need such funds well in advance of the conference in order to select students in a way that allows them to plan their travel and save on tickets. You can approach your own institution already and ask support for a student or two in addition to your own travel needs.
Best wishes for a Happy Winter Holiday Season (in the northern hemisphere) — For Australians, South Americans and southern hemisphere Africans we wish for a Happy Summer Holiday down under! We don’t have many PA members down under, but a few.
The globe is round and tilted at an axis, traveling in an almost circular path around our one and only sun giving us seasons and variable climates over this planet …. we must take care of this special place! PEACE…..
Yours,
Kristina Katsaros—
President of the PORSEC Association
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Vice President: Antony Liu, LiuA at onrasia.navy.mil
Treasurer: W. Timothy Liu, W.Timothy.Liu at jpl.nasa.gov,
Executive Secretary: Gad Levy, gad at porsec.nwra.com
Past President: Yasuhiro Sugimori ,
Past Vice –Presidents : Ming-Xia He, Z. S. Liu, James Gower,
PORSEC Association Committee–Chairs:
Publications: Bill Emery
Awards: Mal Heron